The Calgary Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds played nearly a two in one game on Tuesday when game one of their best of three playoff series needed to be decided in triple overtime. The Firebirds repeated history and scored the game winner in their latest meeting, meaning the Wranglers now face elimination on Saturday. They must win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive and to force a game three on Sunday.

Projected lines

Calgary
Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Dryden Hunt
William Stromgren – Sam Honzek – Martin Frk
Clark Bishop – Carter King – Ty Tullio
Alex Gallant – David Silye – Lucas Ciona 
Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz 
Artem Grushnikov – Simon Mack
Jonathan Aspirot – Jeremie Poirier
Waltteri Ignatjew (last game starter)
Connor Murphy (last game back-up)
Devin Cooley
Arsenii Sergeev
Coachella Valley 
Jani Nyman – Logan Morrison – John Hayden
Brandon Biro  – Ben Meyers – Jagger Firkus
Nathan Villeneuve – Mitchell Stephens – Jacob Melanson
Ian McKinnon – Luke Henman – David Goyette
Gustav Olofsson – Cale Fleury
Max Lajoie  – Ty Nelson
Nikolas Brouillard – Ville Ottavainen
Nikke Kokko (last game starter)
Ales Stezka  (last game back-up)
Victor Ostman

Post-season leaders

Calgary 
Dryden Hunt – 1GP, 1G, 1A
Rory Kerins – 1GP, 1G, 1A
Martin Frk – 1GP, 2A
Coachella Valley 
Mitchell Stephens – 1GP, 2G
Brandon Biro – 1GP, 1G
John Hayden – 1GP, 1G

Notes and expectations

After their loss on Tuesday, Head Coach Trent Call talked to the media and alluded to the possibility of getting help in their lineup in time for their next game. That came to light on Thursday, when the re-assignment of Adam Klapka to the Wranglers was announced. He is available for game two and hopefully brings the confidence he was building on the Flames’ top line towards the end of the season. Also added to the roster was Arsenii Sergeev on an amateur tryout. The only possible additions that are currently unaccounted for are Parker Bell and Tyson Barrie, who were both dealing with injuries and Ilya Solovyov, who was absent from the last game. 
On Tuesday, the question of who the Wranglers were going to put between the pipes was answered. Waltteri Ignatjew got the start with Connor Murphy backing him up. Devin Cooley is physically healthy as far as we know, but the mental lapses in his game since his concussion in late January have made his play inconsistent. After giving up the third and fourth goals within a minute of each other to start the second period on Good Friday, it’s been Ignatjew ever since. Cooley has not dressed for the last two games and may not dress for this round at all. Instead, game one of this series was over 100 minutes of battling between two AHL rookie netminders: Waltteri Ignatjew and Nikke Kokko. 
On the offensive side of things, the Firebirds were the better team on that front in the first two periods and the Wranglers exploded in the third to give themselves a chance in overtime. Dryden Hunt, Lucas Ciona and Rory Kerins were the three to score in the third with Rory Kerins putting up the equalizing goal with just seven seconds remaining in regulation.
The Wranglers shortened their bench as the extra frames went on and Kerins and Hunt were too of the guys who almost ended the game with chances early in the first overtime and second overtime. The fourth line did not see any ice time after regulation and with other players coming in, some are going to have to come out to make room. 
Someone Calgary is going to want to especially shut down in game two is Mitchell Stephens. Waltteri Ignatjew and the defenders did a good job preventing and stopping high danger shots but Stephens’ goals came from harmless-looking tip-ins from the blue paint. He positions himself to be that crease player and that earned him two goals last game, including the game-winner. 
The league spoiled fans with a free stream of the last game on YouTube and social media, but this next game between Calgary and Coachella Valley will be paywalled. To stream the game live, you will need to register with AHL.tv on Flo Hockey. FlamesNation will have many of our contributors also providing updates and highlight clips on X (formerly Twitter). Game two is set to start at 7:00 p.m. MT, and at least if this game goes until after midnight, it’ll be on a weekend.
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