Calgary Wranglers beat themselves on special teams, give up three unanswered in OT loss

The Wranglers kept control of the period and found themselves on the power play when the Moose were called for high sticking. Just 16 seconds into the power play, Connor Zary set up Martin Pospisil for his first goal since Dec. 20 of last year. Pospisil missed most of last season due to injury and has been solid for Calgary in his first two games of the year. Jeremie Poirier also assisted on this second goal, putting him at five points on the year already.

The period continued without any further scoring updates, despite Manitoba’s best efforts. They outshot the Wranglers 13-8 in the second frame and the score remained 2-0 for Calgary. Emilio Pettersen was sent to the box late in the period and the bulk of the penalty remained on the board by the end of the period.

In the third, the Wranglers were still on the penalty kill and the Moose got on the board 45 seconds into the period. Chaz Lucius beat Dansk on a high blocker side shot and cut the Wranglers’ lead in half. 

Calgary got caught on their heels early in the period and Manitoba took advantage once again. Brad Lambert broke into the Wranglers zone and Poirier could not catch up to prevent his scoring chance. Lambert chipped the puck over Dansk and tied the game 2-2.

There were some chances on either side through the rest of the period, but neither was able to score the go-ahead goal. The third period finished up with the score stuck at 2-2 and both teams picking up a point going into overtime. Manitoba outshot Calgary 15-8 in the third. 

Overtime action went from zero to one hundred right away. Wranglers Head Coach, Trent Cull, opted for Clark Bishop, Brett Sutter and Jeremie Poirier to start the extra frame. Brad Lyle came on afterwards and had the best look for Calgary to win the game 1:49 into overtime. Any momentum that was generated from that chance, deflated when Ben Jones took a high sticking call off an offensive zone faceoff and headed to the box with 2:20 to go in overtime.

The Moose took a timeout and while it looked as if the Wranglers would kill off that unfortunate penalty, Dominic Toninato deflected a shot in front of Oscar Dansk and won the game for the home team. Lyle’s overtime shot was the only one Calgary registered in overtime.

The Wranglers fell 3-2 but picked up a point in this competition. They split the weekend series and got a taste of their own medicine with three unanswered goals from the Manitoba Moose. The back half of the game didn’t have the best effort and it showed. The Wranglers were outshot 40-26 and despite Dansk’s best effort between the pipes, it wasn’t enough to win this afternoon’s match-up. 

Jeremie Poirier cracked the three stars coming in at third for his two-assist performance. The other two spots were awarded to Manitoba skaters. 

Next up 

The Calgary Wranglers continue their stretch of away games and will be back in action next weekend. They will head to Abbotsford to face the Canucks for the first time since eliminating them from playoff contention last season. They play on Friday and Saturday. Game time for both is set for 8:00 p.m. MT.