The Calgary Wranglers played game four of their five game road trip on Thursday with their first meeting with the Henderson Silver Knights of the season. The Wranglers got on the board first with a goal from Luke Philp and an equalizer from Henderson before the end of the opening frame. Philp scored another in the second and the Silver Knights evened things up again around the midway mark of the third. Shortly after this goal, Ben Jones scored the go-ahead marker and Owen Say protected this lead to the bitter end. The Wranglers picked up a 3-2 win. 

Lineup notes

Sam Honzek was assigned to the Wranglers on Wednesday but did not slot into the lineup for this game. His Wranglers season debut will have to wait until at least Saturday for their next game. Owen Say got his second consecutive start after picking up the win against the Condors on Tuesday. Calgary also opted for an extra defenceman for this game with Tyson Feist skating as an extra and certain forwards double shifting on the fourth line like Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins and Ben Jones. 

Wranglers lines

Dryden Hunt – Ben Jones – Alex Nylander

Andrew Basha – Rory Kerins – Luke Philp

Sam Morton – Tyson Gross – Will Dineen

Nikita Pavlychev – Carter Wilkie

Axel Hurtig – Mike Benning

Abram Wiebe – Hunter Brzustewicz

Jake Livingstone – Kyle Walker

Tyson Feist

Owen Say (starter)

Kirill Zarubin

Game at a glance

For this game, Owen Say was matched up against Carl Lindbom. Say was getting more of the high-danger chances to shut down to start this game and had to continue to be solid early when Hunter Brzustewicz was called for tripping at 3:41. Calgary killed this off and got a power play chance of their own at 7:29 when Tyson Gross was tripped up. Andrew Basha put up the best chance of this man advantage with a shot that rang off the post but the Silver Knights succeeded with the kill.

Later in the period, the Wranglers were able to come up on the rush and net their first goal of the night. Andrew Basha took the shot and Luke Philp was in a perfect position to bury the rebound. Rory Kerins also assisted on this marker at 15:16.

Luke Philp buries a rebound off the rush to put the Wranglers up 1-0

A few minutes later, the Silver Knights got the answer back goal off a shot from Lukas Cormier. Owen Say had a really solid opening frame but this was just that fluke shot that snuck past his pads. At the end of the first period, Henderson and Calgary were tied 1-1 and shots were 13-4 for the Silver Knights. 

Calgary started the second period with an early power play just 32 seconds in but only put up one shot on this chance. The Wranglers were still limited on their shots on goal in this frame but around the eight minute mark, Dryden Hunt had some space just outside Lindbom’s crease and nearly poked in a go-ahead goal. 

The Wranglers were the ones to be put on the penalty kill next with a holding the stick call against Axel Hurtig at 11:34. Sam Morton got out to a shorthanded breakaway on this penalty kill and tried a backhand shot that was turned away. The Silver Knights took it the other way and rang a shot off the post. 

At 17:40, the Henderson netminder went off for the delayed penalty call against the Wranglers. Tyson Feist officially went to the box for slashing at 17:55. The Wranglers killed this off and finished the second period ahead 2-1. Shots at this point in the game were up to 19-13 for Henderson. 

Calgary came out with some jump to start the third period and at 3:56, Will Dineen answered for a hit along the boards. It wasn’t a dirty hit but it felt like both sides needed an energy booster at this point in the competition. 

Not really a hit that warranted a fight but both the Wranglers and Silver Knights could use a little juice at this point in this game. Will Dineen and Joe Fleming drop the gloves.

At 4:52, the Wranglers were on the penalty kill as Andrew Basha was called for boarding. There were no shots on this penalty kill or for the few minutes following but the next shot at 9:15 was a Henderson goal. Matyas Sapovliv was going in for the wraparound and caught Owen Say just slightly off his near post and stuck the puck in to even up the game at two. 

Just about a minute and a half later, Calgary got a set up going in the offensive zone and Dryden Hunt took a shot that Ben Jones got the deflection on to take the lead once again at 10:41.

Ben Jones with the deflection. Calgary’s back in the lead

The Silver Knights pressured Say for the next goal and with 2:57 to go in regulation, they called a timeout and pulled their netminder. Owen Say absolutely robbed the Silver Knights through the final minutes and picked up the well-deserved win on a 30 save performance. The final score was 3-2 and shots were 32-17 Henderson. Two Wranglers made it to the three stars with Ben Jones getting the third star for his game-winning goal and Luke Philp for the first star for his two goal game. 

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 2A

Dryden Hunt – 1A

Ben Jones – 1G

Luke Philp – 2G

Andrew Basha – 2A

Highlights

Next up

These two have a day between games then will be right back at it on Saturday night. The Wranglers and Silver Knights will get started at 8:00 p.m. ABT for their next match-up.

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