Calgary Wranglers officially move on to round two of the Calder Cup Playoffs

The Calgary Flames may have been eliminated from the playoffs some time ago, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be playoff hockey at the Saddledome this fall. On Friday night, the Calgary Wranglers officially clinched a first round victory over the Tucson Roadrunners, confirming that they will move on to round two against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, with games one and two of the five-game set to take place in Calgary.

So, how did we get here? Let’s take a look at the brief, dominant series on the road from the Wranglers.

Game one took place on Wednesday, with a tense affair sitting at 1-0 from early in the game right down to the wire, before Matt Coronato finished off the 2-0 victory with an empty net goal. It was Cole Schwindt that got the game rolling with a crafty goal early on, but the star of the show, unsurprisingly was Dustin Wolf.

After a promising run to finish the season in the NHL, Wolf is playing in his last stretch with the Wranglers, making it count in game one as he saved all 46 shots he saw to post an impressive shutout, giving the Flames the much needed 1-0 advantage on the road in a three-game series.

Heading into game two on Friday night, the Wranglers were much more relaxed, and it certainly showed throughout the game, with the team performing much better on offense, with goals to Sam Morton, Riley Damiani, Ilya Solovyov and William Stromgren being all the offense they needed.

Wolf wasn’t quite as stellar in net, but he did exactly what was needed to pick up the win, as the Wranglers came away winners 4-3 in dramatic, back-and-forth fashion. Given the Wranglers loss of talent throughout the year with injuries and players heading to the NHL, but at full strength, this is a team that can matchup with anyone in the AHL as they look to now take on the tough challenge of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.