Wranglers Recap: Seven goal second period contributes to 8-2 loss to Firebirds

Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

Mar 6, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Mar 6, 2025, 02:28 EST

The Calgary Wranglers looked for a win on Wednesday night to split their four game homestand and earn back some revenge after falling to the Coachella Valley Firebirds 6-1 on Tuesday. They are in quite a rut as of late, only picking up one win in their last 11 games. The end of the regular season approaches and they need to find points where they can. This game was not one to build on, however. They held an even 1-1 opening period then gave up seven opposing goals in the second period.

By the end of regulation, the Wranglers fell 8-2 to the Firebirds.

Lineup notes

Still no Sam Honzek as he remains out of the lineup with a lower body injury. To switch things up with the healthy guys they do have, Calgary went with 11 forwards and seven defencemen for this game. Joni Jurmo returned to the lineup as the extra blueliner for his first game since February 22nd. Coming out of the lineup to free up a spot in the lineup was Alternate Captain, Alex Gallant.

Wranglers lines

Dryden Hunt – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk

William Stromgren – Sam Morton

Lucas Ciona – Clark Bishop – Parker Bell

Kyler Kupka – David Silye – Trevor Janicke

Jonathan Aspirot – Tyson Barrie

Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz

Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier

Joni Jurmo

Waltteri Ignatjew

Devin Cooley

Game at a glance

The starting lineup was the second line and Dryden Hunt slotted into that line with William Stromgren and Sam Morton. As the first period went on, the top two lines rotated around to even out the workload. In net, both teams made a swap to start with Waltteri Ignatjew between the pipes for Calgary and Victor Ostman in net for the Firebirds.

Morton and Hunt connected right out of the gates when the Firebirds gave up a turnover at center ice, Morton passed the puck up to Hunt, Hunt took the shot and Morton buried the rebound. This goal came just 34 seconds into the game and gave the Wranglers a sigh of relief in the short term.

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A Firebirds turnover at center ice turns into a Wranglers goal just 33 seconds in. Sam Morton scored and Dryden Hunt picked up the assist

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The Firebirds had a bit of a push back after this goal but not anything too high danger that Ignatjew was not able to turn away. The first penalty of the game went to the Wranglers when Lucas Ciona was called for slashing at 12:26. Coachella Valley just put up one shot on this power play and the Wranglers lead held through the man-advantage. Instead, the Firebirds got on the board at 17:06, when a shot from David Goyette got through the legs of Ignatjew and Ian McKinnon tapped in the rebound sitting in the crease.

At the end of 20 minutes, the Wranglers and Firebirds were tied 1-1. Shots were 9-7 Coachella Valley in the first period. The Firebirds quickly took the lead in the second period. In the first minute of the period, Mitchell Stephens score just 48 seconds in on Ignatjew. This kicked off a long string of goals in the second that completely unravelled the Wranglers.

The next goal came at 4:28 from John Hayden. Then another at 8:08 from Ty Nelson. Calgary put up a couple of shots before the next marker from Coachella Valley that came at 10:30 from Ian McKinnon. This goal ended Waltteri Ignatjew’s night between the pipes and Devin Cooley came in for relief.

Just 39 seconds into Cooley’s time on the ice, Daniel Sprong scored for the Firebirds to make it a 6-1 game on just the third shot Cooley saw. Shortly after this goal, John Hayden and Dryden Hunt were called for offsetting minors. Then early into this four on four, Tyson Barrie was called for holding, giving the Firebirds about 90 seconds to work with on the four on three.

The Firebirds would only need 14 seconds of this man-advantage to score one again. Daniel Sprong struck again at 11:55 to make it a 7-1 game. The Wranglers managed to kill off their next penalty when Lucas Ciona was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at 14:44, but the period would not come to a close without another Firebirds goal.

Daniel Sprong scored again on a breakaway at 18:10 to complete his hat trick and put the Seattle Kraken affiliate up 8-1 over the Flames affiliate. Right at the end of the period, Tucker Robertson was awarded a penalty shot that Cooley stopped. This devastating period came to a close with the Wranglers down 8-1. Shots in the middle frame were 15-8 and the Firebirds scored on nearly every second shot.

The reported crowd of 2,504 noticeably dwindled in the second intermission. In the third period, the pace slowed down but Coachella Valley didn’t shut down. They were still taking their opportunities as they got them and the Wranglers seemed to want to get through this game as quickly as possible.

Calgary only had one shot in the first half of this frame and when Trevor Janicke took the second one of the period at 10:53, it caused a bit of a pile up in front of Coachella Valley’s net. The Wranglers got a power play out of this but didn’t do much with the opportunity.

Before the end of the power play, some emotions boiled over and Dryden Hunt and Tye Kartye briefly dropped the gloves between the benches. They were called for offsetting double minors for roughing.

Calgary was able to get a sliver of pride back in this game when Yan Kuznetsov scored at 17:15. This goal was understandably not celebrated all that much but put Calgary in a six goal differential as opposed to a seven.

The Wranglers had one more chance to try and cut some goals off the lead when Tucker Robertson was called for interference at 18:34. These two teams let the time run out and the game finished in an 8-2 victory for the Firebirds. Shots finished 43-25 for Coachella Valley.

Scoring stat summary

Sam Morton – 1G

Dryden Hunt – 1A

William Stromgren – 1A

Yan Kuznetsov – 1G

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have wrapped up their homestand and hit the road for the weekend for two games in Winnipeg, MB against the Moose. Their weekend series gets going this Saturday and continues into Sunday. Both games have a 1:00 p.m. MT start time.

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