Calgary Flames
Hall of Famer
Wranglers Game Day: A road meeting with the Oilers farm team
Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wranglers-game-day-a-road-meeting-with-the-oilers-farm-team
The Calgary Wranglers wrap up a three game road trip on Tuesday with a one game stop in Bakersfield to face the Edmonton Oilers affiliate, the Condors. Calgary is looking for quick redemption after two tough games against the San Jose Barracuda over the weekend. They dropped their last two games 5-1 and 7-2. The Wranglers have a pretty even record against Bakersfield on the season with a 2-2-1-0 record in their five meetings so far and hope to pick up a point or two in this match-up.
Last game’s lines
Calgary
Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Dryden Hunt
William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Martin Frk
Lucas Ciona – Carter King – Aydar Suniev
Parker Bell – David Silye – Alex Gallant
Artem Grushnikov – Damiil Miromanov
Turner Ottenbreit – Jeremie Poirier
Etienne Morin – Simon Mack
Ivan Prosvetov (starter)
Arsenii Sergeev
Bakersfield
Isaac Howard – James Hamblin – Quinn Hutson
Max Jones – Viljami Marjala – Seth Griffith
Sam Poulin – Daniel D’Amato – Roby Jarventie
Brady Stonehouse – Matthew Brown – Ethan Keppen
Damien Carfagna – Josh Brown
Mason Millman – Tyson Feist
Tyler Inamoto – Luke Prokop
Connor Ungar
Leaders
Calgary
Dryden Hunt – 30Gp, 13G, 25A
Martin Frk – 44GP, 16G, 20A
Rory Kerins – 41GP, 13G, 23A
Bakersfield
Seth Griffith – 43GP, 14G, 29A
Quinn Hutson – 38GP, 24G, 17A
Viljami Marjala – 43GP, 12G, 27A
Notes and expectations
Over the weekend, the Flames put Justin Kirkland on waivers for the purpose of AHL assignment. Justin Kirkland was previously with the Wranglers earlier in the season and played in 14 games. In that stretch, he had five goals and two assists. With the Flames, he’s played in 20 games and has picked up two points. His last game was against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 29. As of Monday afternoon, he has cleared waivers and been assigned to the Wranglers. With the quick turnaround on Tuesday, he may not make it in time for this game but should be available for the Tucson games on the weekend.
The Wranglers are also expecting two other players from the Flames by the end of the week. The Olympic roster freeze hits on Wednesday afternoon and the only two waiver-exempt players still on the NHL roster are Matvei Gridin and Hunter Brzustewicz. The Flames only have one game left before the break as they take on the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. These moves come at a good time for the Wranglers as their options are running thin. Especially on the blue line.
Speaking of the blue line, a minor league roster move was made on Monday as Jeremie Poirier was traded to the Dallas Stars organization in exchange for Gavin White. Poirier was often low on the defensive depth chart and struggled to find production this year with six points in 35 games. He was previously known for his offensive talents in addition to his defensive game but after a brutal injury in the 2023-24 season, it might be time for a clean slate. Gavin White comes in as a right shot defencemen and appears to be in a similar scenario as Poirier with five points in 23 games played.
Hoping to return for this game is Nick Cicek. Cicek left the game on Friday after blocking a shot in the third period and was unable to play the following night. His status is listed as day-to-day and the Wranglers played all their healthy remaining defencemen on Saturday. Xavier Bernard was the extra defender they called up from the Rush but he was also out with a day-to-day lower body injury. If one or both are healthy for this game or for the weekend, the team will be feeling a lot better about their options.
Someone to watch going into this game is Sam Morton. Morton is on a three game, four point streak with three goals over the weekend. He was the only Wrangler to find the back of the net and tried to do what he could to keep his team in those games. The Wranglers have pockets of streaks between their top guys, but haven’t had a lot of them stringing them together at the same time. Hopefully, Morton and some of the other top liners can motivate some further production this week.
This will just be a one game stop on Tuesday with a puck drop of 7:30 p.m. MT. Streaming options are available for a fee on Flo Hockey and you can follow along with the away radio broadcast on the Fan960. FlamesNation contributors Ryan Pike and I will have game updates on X (formerly Twitter).
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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wranglers-game-day-a-road-meeting-with-the-oilers-farm-team