Achi news desk-
A third-period double penalty proved to be the undoing of the Calgary Wranglers on Wednesday night as they lost to the Coachella Valley Firebirds 7-5 in Game 3 of their best-of-five AHL playoff series.
The loss puts the Wranglers on the brink of elimination: Friday night’s loss to the Firebirds ends their season.
Jeremie Poirier, Jonathan Aspirot, Adam Klapka, Jakob Pelletier and Cole Schwindt scored for the Wranglers, who lost their second straight game to the Firebirds, eliminating them from the 2023 AHL playoffs.
The Wranglers opened the scoring on a goal by Aspirot, but Coachella Valley responded twice, on goals by John Hayden and Jacob Melanson, to take a 2-1 lead after one period.
Klapka scored on a power play to make it 2-2 before Coachella’s Marian Studenic scored to take a 3-2 lead into the third.
Early in the third, Poirier scored to tie the score at 3-3 before Studeric’s Firebird shortstop gave Coachella Valley a 4-3 lead.
That didn’t last long, as Schwindt fired in a power play goal from high in the slot to tie the game at four apiece.
With 12 minutes remaining, Adam Klapka was awarded a double for holding high and the Firebirds responded twice, getting goals from Devin Shore and Max McCormick to take a 6-4 lead.
Pelletier made it a one-goal game with just over eight minutes to go, but that was as close as the Wranglers got.
With Dustin Wolf pulled in favor of an extra attacker, McCormick scored an empty netter to make the final score 7-5 Firebirds.
Coachella Valley edged the Wranglers 37-36, with Chris Driedger picking up the win for the Firebirds.
After the game, Wrangler coach Trent Cull said the team gave the Firebirds too many chances and paid the price.
“They are a highly skilled team. If you give those guys opportunities, they usually end up benefiting from them,” he said.
“We created some offense, but this (Coachella Valley) is a great, run-and-gun team,” he added. “But that’s not it. That’s not how we play.
“We know how we play as a team – we call it Wrangler hockey and that’s the way we have to keep it.”
Game 4 is scheduled for Friday night in Palm Springs. Puck drop at 8 pm
