Aydar Suniev gives the Wranglers the lead in the first with this power play marker
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Recap: Wranglers lose control of home meeting against the Roadrunners
Photo credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers
Feb 7, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 7, 2026, 09:46 EST
The Calgary Wranglers kicked off a home series against the Tucson Roadrunners on Friday. Calgary has struggled to get it done in regulation against Tucson this season with a 1-3-2-0 record going into this game. They looked to change that and get some points going in this series. They started out strong with the lead going into the first intermission. Then the game blew open in the second period, where the Roadrunners had five goals in less than 10 minutes. Efforts to come back were drowned out by opposing scoring and Calgary ended up falling 7-3 when it was all said and done.
Lineup notes
Matvei Gridin and Hunter Brzustewicz were assigned to the Wranglers after the Flames played their last game against the Oilers before the Olympic break. They were in the lineup for this matchup. Coming out of the lineup to make room were Parker Bell and Simon Mack.
Wranglers lines
Dryden Hunt – Sam Morton – Matvei Gridin
William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk
Clark Bishop – Justin Kirkland – Aydar Suniev
Carter King – David Silye – Lucas Ciona
Nick Cicek – Hunter Brzustewicz
Artem Grushnikov – Daniil Miromanov
Turner Ottenbreit – Gavin White
Arsenii Sergeev
Game at a glance
The Wranglers gave Arsenii Sergeev his second straight start for this game and on the other end, Matthew Villalta. The Wranglers got on the power play right away when Max Szuber was called for holding. Hunter Brzustewicz took over the role of quarterback for this power play but Calgary was unable to register any shots on this opportunity. Play continued and it was a lot of back and forth chances.
The Wranglers took their first penalty of the game at 10:26 when Carter King was called for high sticking. Calgary managed to keep the Roadrunners to one shot on this penalty kill. The Wranglers had their best chance of the period at 14:06, when Aydar Suniev put up a shot on Villalta’s glove side.
Shortly after this chance, Matvei Gridin was going after a puck by the Wranglers’ bench and fell to the ice alongside Sammy Walker. Walker took the brunt of the hit and fell into the boards awkwardly. Gridin got right back up but Walker needed to be helped off the ice.
At 15:19, the Wranglers got another power play chance when Dmitri Simashev was called for holding. Less than a minute into this power play, Aydar Suniev took a shot from the middle of the zone and scored the first goal of the game. His opening tally was assisted by Daniil Miromanov and Martin Frk.
The Wranglers gave up a late breakaway chance to Kevin Rooney in the last minute of the period and Arsenii Sergeev turned it away. With 45 seconds to go in the frame, Nick Cicek was called for high-sticking and the rest of his penalty would carry over into the second period. After 20 minutes of play the Wranglers led the Roadrunners 1-0 and shots were 12-9 for Tucson.
There was still 1:15 remaining in Cicek’s penalty going into the second period and they managed to kill it off. This included a huge save from Arsenii Sergeev to keep it scoreless on Tucson’s end. At 3:23, Austin Poganski made a drop pass to Noel Nordh, who put the puck past Sergeev. This was followed up with another Tucson goal on the next shot with a one-timer by Ben McCartney at 4:29. Before the damage could pile on further, Sam Morton scored his fifth goal in four games on a partial breakaway. Dryden Hunt helped break up a play that Hunter Brzustewicz passed up to Lucas Ciona, who set Morton up for a great shot on Villalta.
What a play and what a goal for Sam Morton. This is Morton's fifth goal in four straight games. Hunter Brzustewicz also picks up an assist for his first AHL point in two months since coming down from the NHL this week.
The Roadrunners regained the lead at 9:38, when Austin Poganski jumped on a puck in front of the net and beat Sergeev on a backhand shot. Less than a minute later, the Roadrunners added to their lead with a goal from Jack Ricketts. Sergeev thought he stopped the initial shot but it slid through his pads and Ricketts tapped in the loose puck.
The misfortune continued for the Wranglers when William Stromgren was called for tripping at 12:07. By 12:50, the fifth Roadrunners goal was in the back of the net. This goal ended Arsenii Sergeev’s night and Ivan Prosvetov came into the game in relief. As the period progressed, Lucas Ciona was being a bit of a pest to the opponents and giving them a piece of his mind. At 16:18, Montana Onyebuchi and him dropped the gloves and Ciona ate a couple in this but made an effort to get some juice flowing for his team.
Pretty one sided fight but good on Ciona for trying to get some things going in this game.
About a minute and a half after this fight, Clark Bishop set up Daniil Miromanov for a shot from the point that put Calgary within two. Justin Kirkland picked up the secondary assist on this goal.
Good vision and a great shot from Daniil Miromanov to put Calgary within two
The eventful second period came to a close with seven goals between these teams and the score was 5-3 Roadrunners after 40 minutes of play. The shots in the second period were the same as the first, 12-10 Tucson.
The Wranglers had the only shots in the first few minutes of the third period then their stretch of momentum was cut short by an interference call against Lucas Ciona at 7:14. Ivan Prosvetov stopped a shot on the doorstep early but another chance came around similarly to the earlier goal on Sergeev. The puck slipped past Prosvetov and Dmitri Simashev pushed the puck over the goal line. This power play goal came at 8:20.
At 12:46, Jack Ricketts forced a turnover in the Wranglers’ zone and took the puck the distance to elevate a shot over Prosvetov. This made it a 7-3 game for the Roadrunners. The Wranglers were looking deflated by this point in the game and managed a few shots before the final buzzer but couldn’t close the gap anymore.
Calgary fell for the fourth game in a row with a final score of 7-3. Shots finished 29-27 for the home team. After the game, Head Coach Brett Sutter was understandably frustrated and felt the team was trying to be “too cute” with their play because they had some extra talent on their roster.
Sam Morton also addressed the media after the game and spoke on where this game started to get away from them. He said:
“Yeah, I think that’s how it’s been going lately. Where he give up one, and then we give up two, we take a penalty, there’s three and it’s a hard hole to climb out of. Like you saw it happen right? It was a pretty quick three goals. So I think our team in general, just needs to find a way to keep our cool and respond after we get a goal scored on us. You know, next shift build a little momentum back and not collapse like that.”
Scoring stat summary
Lucas Ciona – 1A
Clark Bishop – 1A
Justin Kirkland – 1A
Daniil Miromanov – 1G, 1A
Martin Frk – 1A
Aydar Suniev – 1G
Sam Morton – 1G
Hunter Brzustewicz – 1A
Highlights
Next up
The Wranglers and Roadrunners are right back at it on Saturday night for the back end of the weekend back-to-back. This will be the Wranglers’ last game before they’re off for a few days for the AHL All-Star break and puck drop goes at 6:00 p.m. MT.
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