Wranglers Swept By Silver Knights, Losing 2-1 In Shootout On Saturday

The Calgary Wranglers visited the Henderson Silver Knights for a weekend series, dropping their Friday night contest 5-2 before falling 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday night. It was the first Silver Knights series sweep of the Wranglers this season and their third consecutive win dating back to Dec. 22.

Like Friday, Calgary opened the scoring with Sam Honzek scoring his seventh of the year at 4:02. As the Wranglers broke out of their zone, captain Clark Bishop fed William Strömgren, who entered the Silver Knights’ zone.

Turning with the puck on his stick, he fired a pass to a streaking Honzek, who managed to find a hole through Carl Lindblom for the game’s opening goal.

Unfortunately, the visitor’s lead lasted roughly two minutes when Mason Morelli tied things up at 6:18. That was the last time either team would score for the remainder of the contest.

After both goals, each team would get a power play opportunity in the first and second periods, while the Wranglers had the only chance on the man advantage in the third. Neither team capitalized on special teams, which led to overtime and a shootout.

In overtime, the Silver Knights had the only scoring chance, a shot on goal with just three seconds left. This meant both goalies, Lindblom and Devin Cooley, entered the shootout without seeing much action for over five minutes.

Henderson began the shootout, with Matyas Sapovaliv scoring on Cooley to set up the Silver Knights 1-0. Next, Strömgren tied things up at 1-1 when he beat Lindblom.

However, on the next shot, Jakub Brabenec tallied the game-winner on Cooley as Jeremie Poirier was denied on Calgary’s next attempt. Capping off a perfect 3-for-3 shootout, Gage Quinney beat the Wranglers’ netminder to send the fans home happy with a 2-1 victory.

In the end, Cooley finished the evening with 17 saves (.944 SV%) but didn’t make a save in the shootout. His counterpart Lindblom made 23 saves (.958 SV%) and stopped one of two shots he faced in the shootout.

The Wranglers picked up a point in the defeat to remain the top team in the Pacific Division and tie the Hershey Bears for the second-best record in the AHL. Their next game is Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Saddledome against the Ontario Reign.