Wranglers Sweep Roadrunners, Hunt Overtakes Team Scoring Lead

On Tuesday night, the Calgary Wranglers returned home to the Saddledome, snapping a three-game losing streak by defeating the Tucson Roadrunners 5-1.

These two teams met again on Wednesday at the Dome, with the Wranglers rallying for a 4-3 victory. They swept their two-game set against division rivals and improved to 25-12-1-0 on the season.

Unlike the previous night, the Wranglers tailed on three separate occasions, 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, before Martin Frk scored his 11th of the year at 12:26 of the second to tie things up at 3-3.

Then, at 15:50, Dryden Hunt tallied his 11th of the year and 35th point to become the Wranglers' leading scorer, surpassing Rory Kerins (34 points), who is currently skating with the Calgary Flames in the NHL.

After providing an update on Devin Cooley's injury and indicating that the Wranglers' All-Star goalie is now day-to-day, Waltteri Ignatjew got the start. He gave up three goals and made 33 saves for his seventh win of the season.

Ignatjew was solid throughout the contest despite giving up the game's first goal just 50 seconds in, facing 12 shots each period as the Wranglers were outshot for the second consecutive night, 36-25.

As mentioned, the Roadrunners jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 50 seconds after the opening faceoff thanks to a goal from Cameron Hebig.

However, Hunter Brzustewicz tied things up with his second goal of the year at 4:27 with a snipe from the point. Assists on the play went to Yan Kuznetsov and Jonathan Aspirot.

Heading into the first intermission, the Wranglers were down 2-1 when Hebig collected his second of the period at 13:26.

Although the Wranglers were outshot in the middle frame 12-10, they outscored the visitors 3-1. First, Ilya Solovyov notched his fifth of the year at 3:35, thanks to feeds from Artem Grushnikov and Martin Frk.

He fired a seeing-eye shot from near the top of the right side circle that went through a bunch of bodies in front of the Roadrunners' net to tie the game at 2-2.

Once Tucson went ahead 3-2 on a Ryan McGregor tally, Frk scored a dandy power play goal, catching a pass from William Strömgren and dancing to the slot to tie things up again at 12:26. Adam Klapka picked up a second assist on the play.

Meanwhile, Hunt tallied the game-winner at 15:50 with a one-timer, while Jeremie Poirier and Frk earned helpers on the Wranglers' second power-play goal of the period.

Overall, the Roadrunners went 0-for-4 on the man advantage, while Calgary was 2-for-4. In the third, the Wranglers played a defensive game, registering just four shots on goal. They held on for the one-goal win to remain atop the Pacific Division.

Calgary hits the road for a weekend set against the San Diego Gulls on Saturday and the Ontario Reign on Sunday. They wrap up their trip with a rematch against the Reign on Tuesday.

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