BRYAN WILSON – 05.17.2023
It’s Game Day!
The Wranglers continue their quest for the Calder Cup in Game 4 tonight at Acrisure Arena, home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Game 3 was a marathon, with three overtime periods needed to determine a winner, and despite playing some of their best hockey of the night during that span, the Wranglers fell short. They now trail the best-of-five series 2-1 and need to win tonight to continue their season.
REGULAR SEASON:
HOME: Coachella Valley Firebirds (48-17-5-2) (103 Pts. – 2nd in Pacific, 2nd in AHL)
AWAY: Calgary Wranglers (51-17-3-1) (106 Pts. – 1st in Pacific, 1st in AHL)
ROUND 3 RESULTS:
- Game 1 – May 11, 2023 vs Firebirds – CV W, 6-3
- Game 2 – May 12, 2023 vs Firebirds – CGY W, 3-2
- Game 3 – May 15, 2023 @ Firebirds – CV W/OT, 3-2
WTV host @LivMae10 and Wranglers’ PxP voice @sprusina sat down in Palm Springs to recap the Pacific Division Finals, which heads to Game 4 tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/pEZQE1TIN8
— y- Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) May 17, 2023
CGY Player to Watch: #11 Matthew Phillips
Keep an eye on Matthew Phillips tonight.
Phillips is tied for the team lead in scoring during the postseason, and heads into Game 4 riding a six-game point streak in the playoffs, with a goal and six assists in that span.
The ‘Calgary-Kid’ notched 15 game winning goals during the regular season and scored an overtime winner against the Abbotsford Canucks back in Round 2.
HEATING UP
Jeremie Poirier has been on fire during the postseason. He’s currently tied for the team lead in scoring with seven points (1g, 6a) in eight games and is riding a six-game point streak into Game 4.
Game 4 goes tomorrow 👀 pic.twitter.com/fa4WHSkrm8
— y- Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) May 16, 2023
QUOTEABLES
Mitch Love on the Game 3 result:
“We’ll reset and we’ve got some things we can continue to look at as a team, but our last two games have been better,” said Love. “We had a 2-0 lead on the road. Obviously, you don’t want to see those things get salted away, but it’s a fine line out there and we knew that was going to be the case in this series. We’ve just got to win our battles, stick together as a group and maybe the day off in between will be a good thing for us.”
Brett Sutter on the effort in Game 3
“The game could have (gone) either way, I thought we had our chances to finish right from the third period right on through to the end. In playoffs you’ve got to have a short memory, the guys are saying the right things in the room, and we trust we’re going to come out and get the job done in Game 4 here.”
