Wranglers Advance, Set To Play Coachella Valley This Week

The AHL’s top team is moving on to the third round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Calgary Wranglers had a best-of-five series against the Abbotsford Canucks this past week and a half that ended in a 3-1 series win for Calgary. They will play the second best team in the league for their third round match-up against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Here’s how the Wranglers got here.

Abbotsford Series

Game 1

The Wranglers and Canucks had a tight series where two out of the four match-ups went to overtime decisions. Calgary opted to play the first two games at home and play the rest (up to three) in Abbotsford. This is a unique way the AHL structures their playoff series: the higher seeded team gets their choice at the first two or the last three prior to the beginning of the series.

The first game at home immediately kicked off the dramatics with Matthew Phillips getting ejected around the midway mark of the first period for a match spearing penalty. Up until this point, the Wranglers were looking quite rusty from their bye week and appeared to struggle to keep up with their opponent. This sparked some jump from the home team as Dryden Hunt scored the first goal for Calgary 13:19 into the first period.

The second period had no scoring and things broke right open in the third. The Canucks scored an early goal 1:35 into the third from Marc Gatcomb. Calgary was able to answer back with a goal from Adam Klapka 8:49 into the period. Then, the regulation scoring finished up with a goal from Aatu Raty in the last five minutes of regulation.

This game went to overtime where they played just over 11 minutes before Jakob Pelletier netted the game winner.

Number 49 Jakob Pelletier wins it for the Wranglers in overtime!

pic.twitter.com/V9q7KMXG85

— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) April 27, 2023

Game 2

Phillips did not face any additional league consequences from his Game 1 ejection and was in the lineup for Game 2. Calgary opened the scoring again with a Clark Bishop goal 9:54 into the first period. Arshdeep Bains closed off the first period in a big way for Abbotsford with two shorthanded goals at 18:30 and 19:25.

In the second, the only scorer was Tristen Nielsen, who put the Canucks up 3-1. In the third, the Wranglers quickly started a comeback, with Ben Jones scoring 37 seconds into the period. Hunt scored his second of the series minutes later at 5:48. Things were suddenly tied up at 3-3 and would be yet another game decided in overtime.

At 7:49 into overtime, Phillips got his revenge and scored the game winner off a power play goal.

Calgary Kid 🤝 Matthew Phillips 🤝 Overtime Winner https://t.co/sRYg8JVp65 pic.twitter.com/fH9sVR8AzL

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) April 29, 2023

Around The AHL

• Wranglers End Season in Series Loss to Firebirds
• Wranglers Advance, Set To Play Coachella Valley This Week
• Eagles Lose Game 5, Eliminated From Playoffs
• Expanded AHL Playoffs Don’t Quite Pay Off
• Firebirds Tie Series on True’s Shorthanded Stunner

Game 3

Game 3 was the first possible elimination game for Abbotsford. Calgary kicked off the scoring for the third game in a row with a goal from Jeremie Poirier 4:37 into the game. Linus Karlsson answered back for the Canucks just shy of the midway mark of the first.

In the second period, the Canucks scored again 4:44 into the frame with a goal from Christian Wolanin. Throughout this game, it was a lot more apparent that the Wranglers’ top scorers were the targets of the Canucks physical game. Both Pelletier and Phillips went down on the same play and did return, but Phillips took a noticeable beating from the likes of Jett Woo.

In the third, the Canucks scored again to go up 3-1 with a goal from Kyle Rau. The Wranglers tried to make a comeback with Nick DeSimone scoring at 9:15, but it fell short with no other scoring through the third. This would be the first regulation decision of the series as the Canucks would win this one, 3-2.

Game 4

Game 4 saw no dip in intensity as both teams were scrambling to get on the board. The Canucks scored the opening goal for the first time of the series just 2:18 into the game. Nils Hoglander was the responsible party for Abbotsford’s first tally of the game. 

Calgary answered back in the first with a goal from Cole Schwindt 12:51 into the period. The next to score would be Nielsen of the Canucks 15:33 into the second period. The Wranglers were down 2-1 going into the third, but rallied for a big comeback. Ilya Solovyov scored the tying goal 8:29 into the third period and Klapka scored the go-ahead goal that would go on to be the game-winner at 12:41.

🔥How’s that for Klutch!? Adam Klapka pushes the Wranglers into the 3rd round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with a late third period goal against Abbotsford. #Flames pic.twitter.com/cvkel9VivQ

— Flames Prospects (@BlastyProspects) May 6, 2023

The Wranglers flipped the score in Game 4, winning 3-2 and ending Abbotsford’s season. 

The Other Side

The other Pacific Division Semifinals took place between the Colorado Eagles and the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Game 1 took place on April 26 where the Firebirds won 6-2. Game 2 was the next day, and the Firebirds lost 3-2. Game 3 was on April 30, when the Eagles took a 1-0 win. Game 4 ended with a 4-3 Coachella Valley win on May 3.

This series went all five games and finished up on May 5 when the Firebirds beat the Eagles 5-0 and shut the door on the series.

Series Schedule

The best remaining teams in the Pacific Division face off in the Division Finals starting later this week. Here are the game dates and times:

Game 1 – Thursday, May 11th – 7:05 p.m. MDT (Home)

Game 2 – Friday, May 12th – 7:05 p.m. MDT (Home)

Game 3 – Monday, May 15th – 7:00 p.m. PDT (Away)

Game 4 (if necessary) – Wednesday, May 17th – 7:00 p.m. PDT (Away)

Game 5 (if necessary) – Friday, May 19th – 7:00 p.m. PDT (Away)

After these three to five games, we will see who moves on to the Western Conference Finals as the best in the Pacific.