The Calgary Wranglers and Henderson Silver Knights met for their first games since the AHL All-Star break. They started their series with a Friday night match-up in Henderson, NV. The Silver Knights looked more ready to go out of the gates, but the Wranglers matched their energy and kept close to them in scoring until Henderson broke open their scoring in the second half of the third period.

The Silver Knights took the win by a final score of 5-2 thanks to a three goal night from Mitch McLain.

Lineup notes

Dryden Hunt and Ilya Solovyov weren’t in for this game as they got called up to the Flames the last couple of days. Returning to the Wranglers was Clark Bishop, who joined his regular linemates of Sam Honzek and Martin Frk on the second line. Honzek missed the last series for some maintenance days and did return for this game.

Wranglers lines

William Stromgren – Sam Morton – Rory Kerins

Sam Honzek – Clark Bishop – Martin Frk

Lucas Ciona – David Silye – Parker Bell

Alex Gallant – Brett Davis – Connor Mylymok

Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz

Jarred Tinordi – Jonathan Aspirot

Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier

Devin Cooley

Connor Murphy (back-up)

Game at a glance

Devin Cooley got the start for this game and Carl Lindbom was between the pipes on the other end. The Silver Knights had more jump to the game putting up five shots on Cooley in the first three and a half minutes. However, on a broken play in the Henderson zone, the Wranglers got possession of the puck back and opened the scoring off a goal from Rory Kerins. This goal came just 4:23 into the game and was assisted by Sam Morton and Jonathan Aspirot.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Rory Kerins capitalizes on a giveaway in the offensive zone and puts the puck over the shoulder of Carl Lindbom

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3:16 AM · Feb 8, 2025

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This evened up the opening momentum Henderson had generated and grounded the Wranglers better for this competition. The first penalty of the game went against Calgary with Yan Kuznetsov getting called for tripping at 9:49. The Silver Knights capitalized on this man advantage with a goal from former-Wrangler, Mitch McLain at 11:29. McLain was parked in the slot and received a pass and elevated the puck over Cooley. The rest of the first finished off without any other penalty calls or goals and the Wranglers and Silver Knights were evened up 1-1 after 20 minutes of play. Shots in the first were 16-7 for Henderson.

In the opening half of the second period, both sides had some decent chances but nothing to change the scoring. The best opportunity for the Wranglers came at 6:45 when Parker Bell reacted to Jeremie Poirier’s rebound and Lindbom had to wrap his body around the post to keep the puck. Bell thought he may have scored there but the referee behind the net waved it off and it didn’t require any additional review.

The Silver Knights had more of a push in the second half and ended up scoring the go-ahead goal at 15:38 off a redirect from Cal Burke. The Wranglers had their best chance to try and even the score back up again late in the third when the Silver Knights took two penalties within just over a minute of each other. The Wranglers were on a five on three for the last 12 seconds and carried that over into the third period. Shots after 40 minutes of play finished at 17-12 for the Silver Knights.

One of the penalties expired in the third but Calgary didn’t let the other one wind down without a goal. Rory Kerins set up Martin Frk for a one-timer, which he delivered right to the back of the net. This equalizer came 1:18 into the third period and was also assisted by Sam Morton.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Rory Kerins sets up Martin Frk for the one-timer to even up this game.