Recap: Daniil Chechelev picks up first AHL win in Wranglers’ 5-4 shootout victory

The shots were deadlocked at eight after 20 minutes of play and the Wranglers had a 1-0 advantage going into the second period. In the second, Chechelev was beaten on the power play around the midway mark of the period and this game was tied up at one.

About five and a half minutes later, the Wranglers pulled ahead with a goal when Walker Duehr passed the puck up to Clark Bishop to redirect right in the back of the net.

The Wranglers would get one more on the board before the end of the period with a power play goal by Adam Klapka 18:22 into the second period. Klapka was parked right in front of the net and hammered the puck home for the Wranglers third goal of the night.

The Wranglers were up 3-1 going into the third period. However, the third started with a quick momentum shift over to the Barracuda. They scored their second goal of the night just 33 seconds into the period then scored their third just shy of the six minute mark. Very quickly this game was evened up at three. 

The Wranglers ended up having another goal in them to bring their lead back with Emilio Pettersen picking the top corner and scoring 7:58 into the period. Josh Brook and Cole Schwindt assisted. 

The lead didn’t last long as the Barracuda scored once again on the power play about two minutes later. This game was up to a 4-4 tie with half a period to go in regulation. That last 10 minutes didn’t bring either team any more scoring luck and they forced overtime. 

25 seconds into overtime, the Barracuda were called on a penalty and the Wranglers were, unfortunately, unable to capitalize on this huge man advantage. The Wranglers out-shot the Barracuda 4-1 in OT but the game would need to be decided in a shootout. 

Connor Zary, Jeremie Poirier and Matthew Phillips all shot in the shootout in that order and all scored. On the other end of things, the Barracuda scored on their first and third shots but missed on their second and the Wranglers secured the 5-4 victory.

Chechelev picked up his first AHL win stopping 29 of 33 shots and the Wranglers were narrowly out-shot by the Barracuda 33-32. Matthew Phillips was the only Wrangler on the three stars of the night earning the first star for his game-winning shootout goal. 

Next up

The Wranglers will now come back to Calgary and have two days between games to enjoy the Super Bowl and get back in action on Tuesday night at home. They will host the Abbotsford Canucks for a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday to kick off a six game homestand. Tuesday’s game is set for 7:00 p.m. MT and Wednesday’s puck drop will be an hour earlier at 6:00 p.m. MT.