Calgary Wranglers Defenseman Jonathan Aspriot (#48) tries to jam home the puck past San Jose Barracuda goalie Magnus Chrona during the Wranglers 4-2 win at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday MAR 29, 2024. (Calgary Wranglers)

by Marko Ukalovic

The Calgary Wranglers scored three unanswered goals to defeat the San Jose Barracuda 4-2 on Friday evening at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

San Jose has dropped three out of its past four games as it anchors the Pacific Division. Calgary won its second game in a row and is 5-3-1-1 in its last 10 games.

Calgary (34-23-5-3-76 points) needed just 49 seconds into the first period to draw first blood. Clark Bishop caromed the puck off of the boards to Rory Kerins who then banked the puck off of ‘Cuda goalie Magnus Chrona into the back of the net for his 13th goal of the season.

It was Kerins’ first goal in his last eight games.

The Wranglers doubled its lead late in the opening frame with a power play goal. William Stromgren sent a pass back up to the point and Jeremie Poirier quick one-timer went off the glove of Chrona for a fluky goal, Poirier’s third goal of the season at the 17:12 mark.

Ben Jones scored the Wranglers’ third unanswered goal early in the second period. Mitch McLain skated down the right wing before finding Jones with a backdoor pass as the Calgary center buried the puck into an empty net for his 21st goal of the season at the 5:48 mark.

San Jose (20-32-9-2-51 points) finally broke through with 21 seconds left in the middle frame with a power play goal. Cole Cassels was in the right place at the right time. A pass over to Kyle Rau bounced off of him and right over to Cassles who beat Wranglers goalie Connor Murphy for his 10th goal of the season.

With Chrona pulled for an extra attacker late in the third period, Adam Klapka ended any comeback attempt by San Jose when he scored an empty net goal, his 20th of the season at the 17:51 mark.

Brandon Coe completed the scoring with 12th goal with 1:03 remaining in the game. Ethan Cardwell and Jack Studnicka recorded assists on Coe’s fourth goal in his last five games.

Murphy (3-2-2-1) finished the night stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced to earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season. Chrona (5-16-4) made 28 saves on 31 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-3 on the power play. Calgary was also 1-for-3.

San Jose is now 4-2 against Calgary in the season series.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Poirier 2) Kerins 3) Murphy.

UP NEXT: San Jose and Calgary conclude their two-game weekend series on Sunday 3/31 at 12:00pm at the Scotiabank Saddledome.