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Recap: Wranglers winning streak snapped in Coachella Valley
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Photo credit: Mike Zitek/Coachella Valley Firebirds
Paige Siewert
Dec 15, 2024, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 15, 2024, 02:24 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers started their second series of the week on Saturday against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. It’s been a good week for Calgary so far going 2-0 at home against the Moose. This first game back on the road didn’t have the same result as their previous ones and scoring was quite a bit quieter.
This game ended in a 3-1 win for the Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken.

Lineup notes

William Stromgren was back in the lineup after taking the last game off on Wednesday as a maintenance day. This pushed Trevor Janicke out of the lineup, who made his Wranglers debut against the Moose earlier this week. Between the pipes, Waltteri Ignatjew and Connor Murphy made up the goaltending tandem with Devin Cooley on an emergency recall with the Flames. 

Game at a glance

Waltteri Ignatjew got the start for Calgary in this game for his first back-to-back start of the year and his professional career. For the Firebirds, Ales Stezka got the nod between the pipes. Coachella Valley got going immediately and got on the board just 31 seconds into the game. Ben Meyers scored the opening goal off a redirect in front. Gustav Olofsson and John Hayden assisted. 
The quick pace of the start continued and the Wranglers struggled to get looks in the Firebirds’ offensive zone. As they were approaching the midway mark of the opening frame, Adam Klapka was waiting on the doorstep for an opportunity to even up the score. He had a grade-A scoring chance seconds before and the next time the puck cycled his way, he scored off the rebound. This goal came at 9:47 and was assisted by Parker Bell and David Silye. 
This gave Calgary some juice to earn some more zone time but didn’t put ahead in the first period. It was a pretty smooth opening frame with minimal stoppages and no penalty calls. After 20 minutes of play, the score was 1-1 and shots were 12-8 Calgary. 
The Wranglers earned some carryover momentum in the second period and were on the first power play of the game at 1:14. Unfortunately, they hurt themselves on this power play and gave up a shorthanded goal. Coachella Valley reset in their zone and passed the puck up the ice for John Hayden to score a shorthanded goal off a backhand shot. Ben Meyers and Max Lajoie assisted on this goal that came just 2:50 into the middle frame. 
Shortly after this goal, the first penalty call against the Wranglers was made. Lucas Ciona was called for interference and his teammates were successful in their efforts to kill off this penalty. 
These teams went back and forth for a few minutes of play and the next goal came from Jami Nyman at 13:30. Ty Nelson picked up the lone assist. Nyman was on a breakaway and Jeremie Poirier tried so hard to catch up with him that he collided with the net and knocked it off the marsh pegs. 
Calgary continued to push in the second for another goal but ran out of time. The score after 40 minutes was 3-1 and the Wranglers outshot their opponents 13-6 on the second. 
In the third, Calgary was trying to find their bearings again and were penalty killing after a few minutes due to a too many men bench minor. From about the five minute mark until the end of the game, they were doing everything in their power to close the gap in the score but Stezka was not letting anything through. 
They pulled Waltteri Ignatjew at 17:33 and had a late power play at 19:02 which gave them a six on four for the rest of the game. Ultimately, it was a great game by the opposing netminder and they made their best effort to try and continue the six game winning streak. They fell 3-1 and shots finished 34-20 favouring Calgary.  

Scoring stat summary

Adam Klapka – 1G
Parker Bell – 1A
David Silye – 1A

Next up

The rematch between the Wranglers and Moose takes place on Sunday afternoon. They’re at an even 1-1 on the season series and whoever wins next will take the lead. Sunday’s game gets started at 4:00 p.m. MT.

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