The Calgary Wranglers and Manitoba Moose wrapped up their weekend series and season series against each other on Sunday. These cross-divisional combatants saw quite a bit of each other this season, eight games to be exact. The Moose took Saturday’s game with a 6-5 win and the Wranglers came back to win Sunday’s game 3-2 to end things on a high note.

Lineup notes

The Wranglers made a couple of changes for this game. Rory Kerins moved to the wing to promote Sam Morton to the top line after the recent success he’s been having. Martin Frk was scratched for this game and with no pre-game injury report for the team, it is unclear if this was a performance or injury scratch. Jonathan Aspirot switched positions to be a forward for this game on the third line and Artem Grushnikov returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s game. 

Wranglers lines

Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Dryden Hunt 
William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Adam Klapka 
Lucas Ciona – David Silye – Jonathan Aspirot 
Alex Gallant – Brett Davis – Parker Bell
Ilya Solovyov – Tyson Barrie
Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz
Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier
Devin Cooley

Game at a glance

The Wranglers went back to Devin Cooley for the start in this game and Chris Driedger made his debut for the Moose after being traded to the Jets organization late in the week. This game started with an early penalty call against the Wranglers when William Stromgren was called for cross checking. The penalty killing crew did their job and play continued for even strength hockey.
At 8:13, some tensions arose when Alex Gallant put up a late hit along the boards after an offside whistle. This caused a crowd and a few roughing calls out of it, but ultimately resulted in a Moose power play. Another successful penalty kill came and went then the back half of the period brought some scoring action into this competition.
It started with an opening goal from Fabian Wagner from the Moose at 15:12. The Moose were on a partial breakaway that resulted in a tic-tac-toe play that Wagner finished. 
The Wranglers were able to answer back before the end of the period when Rory Kerins deflected a shot from Jeremie Poirier from the point. Dryden Hunt also picked up the secondary assist on this goal at 16:23. Sam Morton also deserves recognition for this goal as he single handedly skated the puck into the zone after the Moose turnover to make this opportunity happen.
By the end of the first period, the Wranglers and Moose were tied 1-1 and shots were 8-7 for Calgary. The second period was a standout frame for the goaltenders, who were getting peppered on each end of the ice. Whistles were kept to a minimum until 7:59, when the Moose were called for a double minor for high sticking. 
In the last minute of this double minor, the Wranglers scored a power play goal off the stick of Sam Morton at 11:10. They were trying to corral the puck and Jeremie Poirier went to the net with a toe drag move that Morton chipped in when the rebound popped out. Hunter Brzustewicz also earned an assist on this go-ahead goal. 
These Canadian competitors exchanged shots again for the remainder of the period and Calgary had a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Shots in the second period were 15-11 for the Wranglers. 
The Wranglers were a bit penalty stricken in the third period starting with a hooking call against William Stromgren just 25 seconds into the frame. Next was a call against Alex Gallant for tripping at 8:19. This penalty actually ended up working in the Wranglers’ favour when Sam Morton sped his way into Manitoba’s zone again and set up Clark Bishop for the shorthanded one-timer at 9:32. Devin Cooley actually earned an assist on this goal too.
The Wranglers had a more comfortable two goal lead after this marker but again, had some minor penalty calls continuing to be whistled against them. Jeremie Poirier was called for a delay of game at 11:12 then Ilya Solovyov was called for cross-checking at 11:49, putting Manitoba on a five on three for 1:23.
The Moose didn’t let this additional opportunity pass them by and after the offensive zone faceoff win, Dylan Coghlan took a low wrist shot that beat Cooley at 11:52. This goal gave the home team some life and the last three and a half minutes were dominated by chances from the Moose. They pulled Driedger at 17:43 and Manitoba registered four shots while they had the extra skater. Driedger had to return to the net at 19:04 then skated off again with 10 seconds to go in regulation. The Wranglers held on for the win and beat the Moose 3-2.
All three stars in this game went to Wranglers with Sam Morton getting the first star, Jeremie Poirier getting the second and Clark Bishop getting the third. Devin Cooley picked up an assist and the win in this game for his first win between the pipes since Jan. 31. 

Scoring stat summary

Jeremie Poirier – 2A
Hunter Brzustewicz – 1A
Rory Kerins – 1G
Dryden Hunt – 1A
Clark Bishop – 1G
Sam Morton – 1G, 1A

Next up

The Wranglers will have the upcoming weekdays away from game action this week and will be back to play the Abbotsford Canucks on Satuday and Sunday for a road series. Those games go at 8:00 p.m. MT on Saturday and 5:00 p.m. MT on Sunday.
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