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Wranglers Recap: Wranglers blown out in their own barn 8-3
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Photo credit: Angela Burger/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Nov 10, 2024, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 10, 2024, 09:08 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers have faced little adversity this season and when they have, it hasn’t been overly damaging. The AHL’s best team got a wake-up call on Saturday night when Henderson rolled into town and took advantage of the slow starts Calgary has been having this year. They put up five goals in just the first period and made it nearly impossible for the Wranglers to dig themselves out of that hole. The final score finished up with an 8-3 loss. 

Lineup notes

Dryden Hunt was assigned to the Flames prior to this game. However, his re-assignment back to the Wranglers was announced by the Flames during this match-up. The Wranglers still went with 11 forwards and seven defencemen in this game as they have been the last few games, but that still left a few holes. 
Martin Frk was able to return to this game after missing the last series with an injury and Ilya Nikolaev slotted back in the lineup after being scratched the last few games. Parker Bell was scratched for this game leaving David Silye and Nikolaev on the rotating fourth line.  

Game at a glance

After Devin Cooley’s two starts earlier this week, Waltteri Ignatjew got the nod for this game. Ignatjew last started in Calgary’s game against the San Diego Gulls on October 31st. On the Silver Knights’ side of the ice, Jesper Vikman started for the visitors. 
The Wranglers were killing a penalty early when Jarred Tinordi was called for tripping at 1:40. Just under a minute into the penalty kill, Calen Addison took a shot from the point that beat Ijnatjew. Grigori Denisenko and Mason Morelli assisted on this opening marker. 
After the dust settled from this initial goal, Yan Kuznetsov was trying to corral the puck but turned it over after being hit by Riley McKay. McKay got the puck up to Jakub Brabenec, who scored from the slot. This goal came at 7:19 and brought the Silver Knights up 2-0. 
A little after this goal and after the first media timeout, the team welcomed Mitch McLain back with a small tribute. McLain stood up from the bench and waved at the fanbase that cheered for him the last two seasons. 
They quickly switched to cheering against him as McLain was the next Silver Knight to light the lamp. Walker Duehr replaced Sam Morton for the faceoff once he was waved out. He did win the draw but once he tried to clear the puck back, Mitch McLain won the race against Hunter Brzustewicz and took a shot past Ignatjew’s glove side. 
The nerves got to Ignatjew and he let another puck past him just 23 seconds after McLain’s goal from Cal Burke. Head Coach, Trent Cull made the change after this goal and put Devin Cooley between the pipes to finish the period. 
The Wranglers finally registered their first shot of the period at 11:53 but would not have luck closing the gap at this point. The Las Vegas Golden Knights affiliate would still get one more goal on the board in the opening 20 minutes of play when Tanner Lazynski buried his own rebound at 12:57. 
That very productive 13 minutes for the Silver Knights put them up 5-0 and no other scoring would take place in the first period. Shots in the opening frame were 10-6 Silver Knights with all their goals coming in their opening nine shots. 
In the second period, the coaching staff opted to give Ignatjew another chance and he started the frame back in the net. The Wranglers had a much better effort to start this period and began taking back more zone time and scoring chances. They cleared their scoreless side of the scoreboard with Jarred Tinordi’s first goal as a Wranglers at 7:28. Jeremie Poirier sent a pass over to him and he picked a ripped a shot past Vikman. 
Unfortunately, the Silver Knights regained their five goal lead later in the frame with a goal from Mason Morelli at 16:46. Brandon Hickey and Mason Geersten set Morelli up for a deflection that put Henderson up 6-1.
That lead didn’t remain for long as Jakob Pelletier netted his second goal of the year at 16:55, just nine seconds after the visitors’ goal. His goal was also a deflection set up by Adam Klapka and Jeremie Poirier. 
Less than a minute later, Jakob Pelletier was called on an offsetting minor for roughing alongside Brendan Brisson. David Silye served the penalty in place of Pelletier as his lip was bleeding and needed to be cleaned up. By the end of the second period, the Wranglers were down 6-2 and outshot Henderson 18-7 in that frame.
In the third period, the momentum swayed back to the Silver Knights’ side and after an early period push, they scored their seventh goal of the night on a power play. This goal was another marker from Mason Morelli at 6:14. 
A positive came from this one-sided competition when Rory Kerins hit the double-digit mark in goals this season with a marker at 13:39. Kerins jumped on a rebound and netted it to make it a 6-3 game. This goal was assisted by Adam Klapka and Jakob Pelletier. 
Calgary decided to pull Ignatjew early to try and close the gap even more. Ignatjew skated back to the bench at 13:48, but by 14:36, Henderson scored their eighth goal and the Wranglers netminder returned to the crease for the remainder of the game.
The rest of the game was more emotional and got Adam Klapka tossed from the rest of the game with a misconduct call from a cross-check he laid on his opponent. Rory Kerins served the minor penalty in the box. In the last 50 seconds of the game, Jarred Tinordi and Mason Geertsen decided to drop the gloves and served a penalty for the rest of the game.
The game ended in an 8-2 decision for the Silver Knights and surprisingly, Calgary finished up with a 31-26 lead in shots. Henderson went two for three on the power play and got all the recognition on the three stars of the night. Former Wrangler, Mitch McLain earned the third star for his goal and assist. 

Scoring stat summary

Jeremie Poirier – 2A
Rory Kerins – 1G
Jakob Pelletier – 1G, 1A
Jarred Tinordi – 1G
Adam Klapka – 2A

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have to have a short memory of this game as they face the same team just over half a day later. The first period will be that much more crucial as the Silver Knights exposed a weakness on Saturday night. Calgary will close off this series and look for a redemption game at 1:00 p.m. MT on Sunday.

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