Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (27-21-5-1) fell 7-2 to the Calgary Wranglers (20-24-10-4) at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday night. They were coming off a 4-1 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks on Wednesday.

Manitoba made good on its only power play chance in the first. Brayden Yager picked the top corner over Arsenii Sergeev’s blocker, scoring the ninth goal of his rookie campaign. Domenic DiVincentiis held the scoreline at 1-0 by stopping 13 Wranglers offerings, while Sergeev made 12 saves.

The Moose held a 15-12 edge on the shot clock in the second, but it was all Wranglers on the scoresheet. Justin Kirkland tied the game 63 seconds into the period, and by 4:41, Aydar Suniev gave Calgary the lead. Suniev scored again 41 seconds later to make it 3-1 Wranglers. Sam Morton added a fourth goal at 8:07. In the final minute of the frame, Kirkland potted his second of the period, and Clark Bishop made it 6-1 with 13 seconds left to finish a massive second period for the home side.

Walker Duehr trimmed the Calgary lead to 6-2 at 7:06 of the third, deflecting a Samuel Fagemo shot into the net. Artem Grushnikov replied to make it 7-2 for the Wranglers at 13:35, as Calgary cruised to a victory on home ice.

Quotable

Moose forward David Gustafsson (click for full interview)
“I’m expecting all of us to go out with a different mindset and really want to win (on Sunday), because this one was embarrassing for all of us.”

Statbook

• Brayden Yager scored Manitoba’s fourth power play goal in the past five games
• Samuel Fagemo recorded two assists
• David Gustafsson picked up an assist in his first game back after missing seven games due to injury