The Calgary Wranglers kept trading blows with the San Jose Barracuda on Friday night, but this time the comeback bid came up a goal short.
After Calgary had beaten San Jose 6-4 on Wednesday with a late push and an empty-net finish, the rematch at the same rink turned into another track meet. The Barracuda’s final goal in the third period proved to be the difference in a 5-4 Calgary loss.
The game opened at full speed and barely slowed down. Axel Hurtig started the scoring just 20 seconds in when his point shot banked off a Barracuda player in front of the net.
Sam Morton and Tyson Gross earned the assists. San Jose answered 33 seconds later through Thomas Messineo, then the temperature rose at 2:10 when Hurtig and Carson Wetsch dropped the gloves and fought behind the play in the Barracuda zone.
Calgary grabbed the lead back at 2:46. Tyson Gross forced a turnover, the puck moved to Morton and then back to Gross, and that sequence set up William Stromgren for his first goal of the season.
The lead didn’t last long. Mike Benning was whistled for interference at 2:59, and nine seconds into the power play Brett Leason buried the rebound to tie it.
San Jose pulled in front at 10:39 on Filip Bystedt’s slot goal. Calgary had a prime chance to respond through a Connor Zary setup to Alex Nylander, but the period finished with the Barracuda holding a 3-2 edge and a 13-8 shot advantage.
The second period brought more swings. Alex Nylander took a hooking penalty at 3:02, but the Wranglers killed it off and then got even at 6:55 when Ben Jones blasted one bar down off a feed from Mike Benning, with Abram Wiebe also picking up an assist.
Just 28 seconds later, Jones did it again. After Rory Kerins was assessed a high-sticking double minor at 7:23, Jones broke up a pass in the Calgary zone, raced away on a breakaway and scored the Wranglers’ first shorthanded goal of the season to put Calgary ahead.
The Barracuda answered once more. Calgary earned its first power play of the night at 11:12 after Andre Gasseau was called for roughing, but after the teams returned to even strength, Gasseau tied it at 14:42 with a bar-down shot of his own. Through 40 minutes, the teams were deadlocked 4-4, and San Jose had the shot edge at 26-18.
The third period stayed tight until 5:59, when Donovan Houle lifted a shot past Arsenii Sergeev to give the home side a 5-4 lead. Calgary got one more chance to pull level at 12:49 on a too-many-men penalty against San Jose, but the power play came up empty.
With time running down, Calgary pulled Sergeev for the extra attacker at 18:06, and Brett Sutter called timeout at the next whistle. At 18:54, Hunter Brzustewicz tripped Jimmy Huntington to stop an empty-net chance, leaving the Wranglers to chase the game with one goal still to erase. In the final two seconds, Dryden Hunt was taken down along the boards and San Jose was called for tripping, but Calgary lost the faceoff and that was that.
The Wranglers dropped 5-4 for their first road loss of the season. San Jose finished with a 33-30 shot advantage, and Jones was Calgary’s lone player among the three stars, taking second star honors after his two-goal night.
Before the game, Calgary updated Will Dineen, who has missed the last four contests, and listed him as day to day with a lower body injury. Connor Zary remained on the left wing of the top line for a second straight game, while Alex Gallant returned to the lineup in place of Nikita Pavlychev.
Ben Jones led Calgary with two goals, while William Stromgren and Axel Hurtig also scored. Tyson Gross and Sam Morton each had two assists, and Mike Benning and Abram Wiebe each collected one.
The Wranglers head to Bakersfield next, where they’ll face the Condors on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. MT.
In Other News...
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Wranglers Face A Tough Chance To Seize Control In Bakersfield
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