The Calgary Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds played the second game of their best of three series on Saturday night. After Coachella Valley won in triple overtime on Tuesday, the Wranglers faced potential elimination if they weren’t able to pick up a win in this game. Unfortunately, the Wranglers couldn’t drum up the comeback magic they had in game one and ended up falling 2-0, thus eliminating them from the playoffs and ending their season.
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<h2>Lineup notes</h2>
The Wranglers gained a couple of players for this game. Adam Klapka was reassigned to the Wranglers and slotted into the second line for this game. Ilya Solovyov also came back to the lineup after missing the last two games. With an already full lineup, the players that came out of the lineup were Carter King and Hunter Brzustewicz. Brzustewicz was unexpected and likely was a maintenance game or an injury. 
<h2>Wranglers lines</h2>
Dryden Hunt &#8211; Rory Kerins &#8211; Martin Frk
William Stromgren &#8211; Sam Morton &#8211; Adam Klapka
Sam Honzek &#8211; Clark Bishop &#8211; Ty Tullio
Alex Gallant &#8211; David Silye &#8211; Lucas Ciona
Jonathan Aspirot &#8211; Ilya Solovyov
Artem Grushnikov &#8211; Jeremie Poirier 
Yan Kuznetsov &#8211; Simon Mack
Waltteri Ignatjew
Connor Murphy
<h2>Game at a glance</h2>
The Wranglers and Firebirds went with the same netminders for game two of this playoff series. Nikke Kokko was in net for Coachella Valley and Waltteri Ignatjew was in net for Calgary. This game didn’t start off with the same type of pace that you would’ve seen in the third period and first overtime last game, but the desperation of the Wranglers was felt in the opening minutes.
Calgary got the first power play of the game at 2:31 when Jacob Melanson was called for high-sticking. Around the four minute mark of the period, Dryden Hunt had a chance on a breakaway but was handcuffed before he could get a clean shot off. The nerves of the game seemed to mellow out a bit after the opening five minutes or so but you could tell the Wranglers were keen to keep the mistakes to a minimum.
Things went pretty back and forth, then the Wranglers took their first penalty of the game at 16:17 when William Stromgren was called for delay of game. There was some chatter around this play from the bench but the call stood. It didn’t end up hurting them though, as they were able to build off some shorthanded set ups and kept the puck out of their own zone for the majority of the penalty kill. 
By the end of the period, there was no score between these two and Calgary had a slight 6-5 edge in shots. In the second period, there were very minimal stoppages for the first half of the period. The first penalty of the middle frame came at 12:05 when Cale Fleury was called for holding. Calgary wasn’t able to generate much on this power play but after it expired, the Firebirds took it the other way.
At 15:22, the Firebirds opened the scoring from none other than Mitchell Stephens. Stephens scored two goals in game one including the game-winner and made an impact in this game too. Nathan Villeneuve came up on a two on one rush and dropped a pass back to Stephens so he could pick and rip it past Ignatjew to make it a 1-0 game. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
BIRDS STRIKE FIRST!!! <a href="https://t.co/BF1AEFXKgD">pic.twitter.com/BF1AEFXKgD</a>
&mdash; Coachella Valley Firebirds (@Firebirds) <a href="https://twitter.com/Firebirds/status/1916319665485451289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Firebirds almost had another marker a couple of minutes later on a Jacob Melanson breakaway that Ignatjew turned away. Jonathan Aspirot was also able to bat the puck out of the zone with his hand and prevent any further damage. After this, the Wranglers buckled down and tried to even things up. Standout chances before the end of the period came from Clark Bishop and Ty Tullio. In the middle frame, Calgary ended up out-shooting Coachella Valley 11-8.
In the third period, the opening half of the frame was mostly swayed in the Firebirds’ favour. They did get a penalty at 3:34, but the Wranglers didn’t get any shots on this chance. The home team even appeared to score halfway through and celebrations started in the building, but it was reviewed to go off the post and out.
The second half of the period however, was mostly Wranglers. They were feeling the pressure of the reality of the result of this game setting in and were trying to get on the board. The Wranglers ended up pulling Ignatjew at 18:09 and called a timeout shortly after. 
Calgary put their best players forward and most of them got a look at the net and kept getting shut down by Kokko. At 19:43, Jeremie Poirier turned the puck over at centre ice and John Hayden took it all the way to the empty net to pretty well seal this game. 
The Wranglers fell 2-0 in game two and were swept by the Firebirds in this best of three opening playoff series. The shots finished 23-20 and this game put the final bow on the Wranglers’ 2024-25 season.
<h2>Next up</h2>
The Wranglers don’t have much on the calendar now outside of travelling home and doing exit meetings. The players will make their way to their Spring and Summer locations to train in the offseason and take some well-deserved rest. Many players brought their best game this year and many others got glimmers in the NHL. There’s a lot to reflect on but none of these players should be hanging their heads on that season. The future is bright. 
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The Calgary Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds played the second game of their best of three series on Saturday night. After Coachella Valley won in triple overtime on Tuesday, the Wranglers faced potential elimination if they weren’t able to pick up a win in this game. Unfortunately, the Wranglers couldn’t drum up the comeback magic they had in game one and ended up falling 2-0, thus eliminating them from the playoffs and ending their season.
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<h2>Lineup notes</h2>
The Wranglers gained a couple of players for this game. Adam Klapka was reassigned to the Wranglers and slotted into the second line for this game. Ilya Solovyov also came back to the lineup after missing the last two games. With an already full lineup, the players that came out of the lineup were Carter King and Hunter Brzustewicz. Brzustewicz was unexpected and likely was a maintenance game or an injury. 
<h2>Wranglers lines</h2>
Dryden Hunt - Rory Kerins - Martin Frk

William Stromgren - Sam Morton - Adam Klapka

Sam Honzek - Clark Bishop - Ty Tullio

Alex Gallant - David Silye - Lucas Ciona

Jonathan Aspirot - Ilya Solovyov

Artem Grushnikov - Jeremie Poirier 

Yan Kuznetsov - Simon Mack

Waltteri Ignatjew

Connor Murphy
<h2>Game at a glance</h2>
The Wranglers and Firebirds went with the same netminders for game two of this playoff series. Nikke Kokko was in net for Coachella Valley and Waltteri Ignatjew was in net for Calgary. This game didn’t start off with the same type of pace that you would’ve seen in the third period and first overtime last game, but the desperation of the Wranglers was felt in the opening minutes.

Calgary got the first power play of the game at 2:31 when Jacob Melanson was called for high-sticking. Around the four minute mark of the period, Dryden Hunt had a chance on a breakaway but was handcuffed before he could get a clean shot off. The nerves of the game seemed to mellow out a bit after the opening five minutes or so but you could tell the Wranglers were keen to keep the mistakes to a minimum.

Things went pretty back and forth, then the Wranglers took their first penalty of the game at 16:17 when William Stromgren was called for delay of game. There was some chatter around this play from the bench but the call stood. It didn’t end up hurting them though, as they were able to build off some shorthanded set ups and kept the puck out of their own zone for the majority of the penalty kill. 

By the end of the period, there was no score between these two and Calgary had a slight 6-5 edge in shots. In the second period, there were very minimal stoppages for the first half of the period. The first penalty of the middle frame came at 12:05 when Cale Fleury was called for holding. Calgary wasn’t able to generate much on this power play but after it expired, the Firebirds took it the other way.

At 15:22, the Firebirds opened the scoring from none other than Mitchell Stephens. Stephens scored two goals in game one including the game-winner and made an impact in this game too. Nathan Villeneuve came up on a two on one rush and dropped a pass back to Stephens so he could pick and rip it past Ignatjew to make it a 1-0 game. 

https://twitter.com/Firebirds/status/1916319665485451289

The Firebirds almost had another marker a couple of minutes later on a Jacob Melanson breakaway that Ignatjew turned away. Jonathan Aspirot was also able to bat the puck out of the zone with his hand and prevent any further damage. After this, the Wranglers buckled down and tried to even things up. Standout chances before the end of the period came from Clark Bishop and Ty Tullio. In the middle frame, Calgary ended up out-shooting Coachella Valley 11-8.

In the third period, the opening half of the frame was mostly swayed in the Firebirds’ favour. They did get a penalty at 3:34, but the Wranglers didn’t get any shots on this chance. The home team even appeared to score halfway through and celebrations started in the building, but it was reviewed to go off the post and out.

The second half of the period however, was mostly Wranglers. They were feeling the pressure of the reality of the result of this game setting in and were trying to get on the board. The Wranglers ended up pulling Ignatjew at 18:09 and called a timeout shortly after. 

Calgary put their best players forward and most of them got a look at the net and kept getting shut down by Kokko. At 19:43, Jeremie Poirier turned the puck over at centre ice and John Hayden took it all the way to the empty net to pretty well seal this game. 

The Wranglers fell 2-0 in game two and were swept by the Firebirds in this best of three opening playoff series. The shots finished 23-20 and this game put the final bow on the Wranglers’ 2024-25 season.
<h2>Next up</h2>
The Wranglers don’t have much on the calendar now outside of travelling home and doing exit meetings. The players will make their way to their Spring and Summer locations to train in the offseason and take some well-deserved rest. Many players brought their best game this year and many others got glimmers in the NHL. There’s a lot to reflect on but none of these players should be hanging their heads on that season. The future is bright. 

Sponsored by bet365:
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Playoff Recap: Wranglers end season in 2-0 series loss to Firebirds

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