The Calgary Wranglers return to action for their first game back after the AHL All-Star Break. The players got a few days away from hockey and hit the road to play an out of Division opponent, the Manitoba Moose. With just 25 games remaining in the regular season, every match-up going forward is going to be especially crucial if the Wranglers are to qualify for the playoffs this year. 

Last game’s lines

Calgary

Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Aydar Suniev

Dryden Hunt – Justin Kirkland – Matvei Gridin

William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Martin Frk

Parker Bell – Carter King – Lucas Ciona

Nick Cicek – Daniil Miromanov

Turner Ottenbreit – Hunter Brzustewicz

Artem Grushnikov – Gavin White

Ivan Prosvetov

Manitoba

Brad Lambert – Parker Ford – Phillip Di Giuseppe 

Mason Shaw – David Gustafsson – Nikita Chibrikov 

Colby Barlow – Danny Zhilkin – Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Fabian Wagner – Brayden Yager – Samel Fagemo

Ashton Sautner – Tyrel Bauer 

Ville Heinola – Elias Salomonsson

Isaak Phillips – Kale Clague

Thomas Milic 

Domenic DiVincentiis 

Leaders

Calgary

Dryden Hunt – 33GP, 14G, 26A

Martin Frk – 47GP, 16G, 22A

Rory Kerins – 44GP, 14G, 23A

Manitoba 

Mason Shaw – 41GP, 15G, 15A

David Gustafsson – 40GP, 8G, 19A

Walker Duehr – 37GP, 11G, 14A

Notes and expectations

Calgary returned to practice on Friday and the good news out of this session was that Rory Kerins was practicing and not worse for wear after taking a puck to the face in the third period against the Roadrunners last weekend. He did wear a bubble on his helmet as a precaution and will likely be sporting that in these upcoming games.

The Wranglers’ last game resulted in a gut-wrenching 6-5 overtime loss. This was a game they positioned themselves to win and were mere seconds from making that happen. It was especially important to try and get some points and close the gap on a team that holds the last playoff spot in the Pacific Division. Some of the things that worked in this game were tied back to a radical shift in the lines and defensive pairings. After that game, Head Coach Brett Sutter spoke to that and said:

“I think we wanted to put four really reliable and trustworthy guys down the middle of the ice and I thought all four of them had a really good night. I thought guys that needed to step up did. It was good to see Strommer (William Stromgren) finally bury one and Rory (Kerins) got one. Then you get contributions down the lineup. Just with Kinger (Carter King), Bellsy (Parker Bell) and C (Lucas Ciona). I thought their line was fantastic tonight. We did a lot of good things and it sucks right now. Like they’re hurting in there, but there’s some things we can build off.”

The break came at the right time for this team that has really struggled in regulation for about the last two months. Calgary’s last regulation win was against the Laval Rocket on Jan. 26 and that was only one of two wins all month. The other being an overtime victory against the Bakersfield Condors on Jan. 1. They took that last loss to heart and some time away from hockey couldn’t have come at a better time. The guys were looking refreshed at practice and re-motivated to try to make something happen in this last push of the season. 

Carter King spoke to the media after Friday’s practice and said:

“I think it’s a great mental reset to just get away and kind of reset yourself. Come back in with a fresh mindset. I think we’re all looking forward to getting back on the ice and start playing here and try to build some more positive momentum to try and finish the season off.”

On the other end, former Flame and Wrangler, Walker Duehr is expected to return for this game after missing some time with a lower body injury. He’s been out for five games and remains a factor for this Moose team on the scoring side of things. A practice report out of Manitoba on Friday had Duehr skating on the top line so it’s very likely Calgary sees him in this series. 

This series kicks off on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. MT puck drop. Game two will be on Family Day Monday at the same time. Both games will be streamed for a fee on Flo Hockey and away hockey broadcasts will be available on the Fan960. FlamesNation contributors Ryan Pike and I will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).

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