Wranglers Lose Seesaw Battle In Game Three

Riley Pollock – 08.05.24

It was another tightly contested game on Wednesday night as the Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds faced-off for game three of this best-of-five series.

A double-minor for high-sticking was the Wranglers undoing as Coachella scored on both minor penalties in the third period to help give the Firebirds the 7-5 win and the two-to-one series lead.

Jeremie Poirier had a goal and two assists while Jonathan Aspirot, Adam Klapka, Jakob Pelletier and Cole Schwindt also scored for the Wranglers who now face elimination on Friday night.

It didn’t take long for the Wranglers to open the scoring on Wednesday as Jonathan Aspirot struck late on their first powerplay on a shot from the point to make it 1-0.

Coachella Valley, like they did in Sunday, had a response scoring two quickly to make it 2-1 Firebirds.

The Wranglers killed their first penalty of the night late in the first.

The score would stay 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

Calgary went back to the man-advantage early in the second period and once again they found the net on the powerplay as Adam Klapka pushed one in backdoor to make it 2-2.

Both teams traded penalties 17-seconds apart leading to 1:43 of four-on-four time. Coachella was able to capitalize quickly on the extra space making it 3-2.

The Firebirds took another penalty making it a four-on-three for 1:14 directly after their goal to take the lead. The Wranglers were unable to tie the game back up.

The Wranglers went back to the powerplay with just over one-minute to go in the middle-frame which they would carry over to the final frame.

Calgary capitalized early in the third-period as Jeremie Poirier picked up his third-point of the night on a spinning shot entering the zone that fooled Chris Driedger to make it 3-3.

Shortly after the Wranglers gave the puck away in the offensive zone on the powerplay and the Firebirds went in two-on-one scoring shorthanded to give Coachella the 4-3 lead.

The lead once again didn’t last long as on that same powerplay Cole Schwindt grabbed his fourth goal of the postseason from the high slot to make it 4-4 and also giving the Wranglers their third powerplay goal of the game.

Klapka took a double-minor for high-sticking with 12:06 remaining in the game and the Firebirds gained the lead for the fourth time of the night with a shot through traffic to make it 5-4 and then again on the second of the double-minors to go up 6-4.

The Wranglers wouldn’t go away as Jakob Pelletier found the back of the net from the high slot to make it 6-5 with 8:16 remaining.

Calgary went on the powerplay just after the goal but they were unable to tie the game.

The Wranglers tried for the equalizer but Coachella was able to find the net with Dustin Wolf pulled to make the final 7-5 and give them the two-to-one series lead.

These two teams go back at it for game four Friday at 8 p.m. MT.