Wranglers Leading Scorer’s Two Goals Power Sweep Over Canucks

Roughly 24 hours after the Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on New Year’s Eve at the Saddledome, the Calgary Wranglers kept the party going in the New Year.

Thanks to two goals from Rory Kerins, who leads the AHL in goals, and 31 saves from Devin Cooley, the Wranglers doubled up the Abbotsford Canucks 4-2 on Wednesday.

After falling behind 1-0 in the second period on a Sammy Blais’ power play goal, Kerins collected his first of the night at 18:19 to even the contest going into the third.

On the man advantage at 6:45, Adam Klapka tallied his 10th goal of the year to give Calgary their first lead of the night. Nine minutes later, at 15:44, Kerins netted his second goal of the night to extend the home team’s lead to 3-1.

However, Abbotsford didn’t go away easy, cutting into the Wranglers’ lead when Christian Wolanin scored less than a minute later at 16:22. But that was their last goal as Sam Honzek scored his fifth goal of the year into an empty to seal the 4-2 victory.

After 32 games, Kerins ranks first in the league with goals (21), one of only two players, the other Ethen Frank (Hershey), to reach the 20-goal plateau already. Overall, he is the AHL’s second-highest scorer with 34 points.

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Meanwhile, Dryden Hunt picked up another two assists on Wednesday night to reach 22 this season, the second-best total in the AHL, tied with Vinnie Hinostroza (Milwaukee) and one behind Rocco Grimaldi (Cleveland) for the top spot.

Between the pipes, Cooley continued his dominance, bumping his league-leading SV% to .939 and lowering his GAA to 1.94, as he’s chasing Brandon Halverson (Syracuse), who has the best GAA in the AHL at 1.70.

The Wranglers are now 2-0-0 under interim head coach Joe Cirella and have improved to 3-1-0 over the Canucks through four meetings this season. Calgary, whose overall record stands at 22-9-1, remains the top team in the AHL with 45 points.