Calgary and Abbotsford played a rematch game on Sunday afternoon after the Wranglers fell in overtime on Saturday night. The Canucks pulled ahead in the first period and some of the rivalries between these teams showed themselves. It boiled over into the second period as well, with multiple fighting majors and misconducts being handed out for over 100 minutes of penalties by this point in the game. The Wranglers had a huge comeback in the third and ended up picking up the win in overtime.

Lineup notes

For this game, Lucas Ciona came out and David Silye came in. This promoted Carter King to the third line and brought Andrew Basha down to the fourth line. On the blue line, Jeremie Poirier came out of the lineup and Simon Mack came in.

Wranglers lines

William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk

Justin Kirkland – Sam Morton – Matvei Gridin

Carter King – Clark Bishop – Parker Bell

Alex Gallant – David Silye – Andrew Basha

Artem Grushnikov – Daniil Miromanov

Etienne Morin – Nick Cicek

Turner Ottenbreit – Simon Mack

Connor Murphy

Game at a glance

Both squads switched up their netminders for this game with Connor Murphy getting the nod on Calgary’s end and Nikita Tolopilo between the pipes on the Canucks’ end. The Canucks peppered Murphy with four shots in the first minute and he managed to turn them all away. Calgary took a couple of shots the other way then at 3:50, Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored for Abbotsford with a bar down shot.

The first penalty of the game went against the Canucks at 5:26, when Jimmy Schuldt was called for delay of game. Calgary got a couple of looks on this power play then were killing off a double minor against Daniil Miromanov at 9:04. The Canucks’ next best look of the period came about a minute later when Chase Wouters rang a shot off the post. Calgary finally got a bit of relief when Lekkerimaki was called for hooking at 10:31.

At 13:58, there was an offside call in the Wranglers zone that a Canucks player shot after the whistle and this drew a crowd that Alex Gallant centred. This turned into a fight between Andrew Basha and Jett Woo, who were the skaters on the outside. Basha was jumped and didn’t even get his gloves off. This situation caused an extended review by the officials and turned into two roughing minors against Gallant, a fighting major against Basha, a roughing minor against Danila Klimovich, then a fighting major, a 10 minute misconduct and an instigating minor against Jett Woo.

A few minutes later, at 17:58, Rory Kerins was called for tripping and the Canucks quickly made it a 2-0 game with a power play marker for Victor Mancini at 17:46. Calgary finished the period wrapping up a power play, but were still behind 2-0 after 20 minutes of play. Shots through the first were 14-11 Abbotsford.

It was a bit of a slower pace in the second period as these teams traded shots. The dynamic changed a little at 7:03, when Etienne Morin was called for slashing. A few minutes later, Daniil Miromanov was down on the ice after blocking a shot off the ankle. He needed help off and put the Wranglers down a defender for a few minutes. The next shift, Alex Gallant went after Jett Woo for jumping Andrew Basha and was laying into him in Abbotsford’s net. Gallant was given a game misconduct with an aggressor call, then Martin Frk served his fighting major. The Wranglers had an extended penalty kill after this sequence of events.

1:09 into this penalty kill, Turner Ottenbreit was hit up high along the boards without a call, then Nick Cicek went to his defence and Ottenbreit stood his own. Cicek and Ottenbreit fought along the Canucks’ bench and Parker Bell got into a fight behind this crowd. As they sorted penalties, Miromanov made his way back to the bench to return to the game.

Both times when the fights happened, the Wranglers’ coaching staff showed a lot of frustration over the decisions of the calls. This sequence turned into a fighting major against Vilmer Alriksson, Joseph LaBate, Parker Bell, and Nick Cicek. Alricksson and Bell were also given game misconducts for a secondary altercation and Cicek was given a 10-minute instigating misconduct. The situation left the Wranglers shorthanded as Nick Cicek was also called for instigating minor, which Rory Kerins served.

Calgary managed to kill these penalties off and kept this game within reach. By the end of the second, they remained down 2-0. Shots in the middle frame were 16-4 Abbotsford. Early in the third, the Wranglers got their first goal on the board with a backhand chip from Daniil Miromanov. Carter King fed him the puck from behind the net and Miromanov elevated it over Tolopilo. Matvei Gridin picked up the secondary assist on this marker.

https://twitter.com/AHLWranglers/status/2000373829106032993

There were a few missed calls after this goal so play continued with minimal whistles. The next goal came at 8:11 when William Stromgren took the shot and Clark Bishop got the last deflection touch. Stromgren was pretty sure it was his goal and celebrated it as such but it went to Bishop. Turner Ottenbreit also assisted on this equalizing goal.

https://twitter.com/AHLWranglers/status/2000376610114146551

The game delayed for a few minutes after this goal as the Canucks’ bench gate would not close. They got it all fixed then right in the next shift, William Stromgren came out on the rush, his shot attempt was blocked by the stick of the defender and Rory Kerins was right behind him to put the puck glove side and in. He was so excited in his celebration that he almost lost his footing. The Wranglers were down a few guys due to the game misconducts and this goal earned them the first lead of the game.

https://twitter.com/AHLWranglers/status/2000378344668545213

Later in the period, the Canucks got one back to even up the scoring again. At 16:48, Chase Wouters was in the slot and chipped in a shot from behind the net. The Wranglers managed to get one more shot on goal before the end of the period but regulation would not solve this game either as Saturday’s game also went to extra minutes.

The score at the end of the third was 3-3 and shots in the third were 10-9. Abbotsford put up the first shot of the extra frame then it was all Wranglers. At 4:15, William Stromgren found Nick Cicek, who was in the zone with space and he shot the puck past Tolopilo’s blocker side to win this game.

The Wranglers finished with a 4-3 final score and were outshot 41-28. The three stars went to only the Wranglers with Daniil Miromanov getting the third, Rory Kerins getting the second and Nick Cicek getting the first.

Scoring stat summary

Turner Ottenbreit – 1A

Rory Kerins – 1G

William Stromgren – 3A

Matvei Gridin – 1A

Clark Bishop – 1G, 1A

Daniil Miromanov – 1G

Nick Cicek – 1G

Carter King – 1A

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have a few days away from game action, but remain in the city for practices. Their next series starts on Friday at 7:00 p.m. MT when they host the San Diego Gulls. Next week’s series will be their last before they break for Christmas.