Coachella Valley Climbs Back to Gain 2-1 Series Lead Against Calgary
The Firebirds defeated the Calgary Wranglers in triple overtime on Monday night at Acrisure Arena by the final score of 3-2. Ryker Evans scored the game winning goal at 11:22 of the third overtime.
Calgary netted the first goal of the game on a tally from Adam Klapka on the powerplay. Walker Duehr turned a shot towards the net that ricocheted off Klapka an in to give the Wranglers a 1-0 lead. Jakob Pelletier added his third goal of the series with a breakaway strike at 15:23 of the third period after sliding the puck through the five-hole of Joey Daccord.
The Firebirds scored the lone goal of the second period on a seeing eye shot by Gustav Olofsson, his second of the playoffs. Max McCormick and Alexander True earned the assists on Olofsson’s goal that pulled Coachella Valley within one.
Coachella Valley evened the game three minutes into the third period on a powerplay goal from Max McCormick. Ryker Evans launched a shot through traffic off the stick of McCormick, past Dustin Wolf to make it 2-2. The goal was McCormick’s seventh of the postseason.
Joey Daccord made 19 saves in the first overtime to keep his team alive and made seven more saves in the second overtime to force triple OT. Kole Lind moved the puck to Evans at the blue line who snuck a shot over the right shoulder of Dustin Wolf to give the Firebirds the OT win.
The Firebirds were outshot 62-51. Coachella Valley’s powerplay finished 1-for-5 and the penalty kill went 2-for-3.
Read the game’s full box score HERE.
NEXT GAME: Game four between the Firebirds and the Wranglers takes place this Wednesday, May 17th. Puck drop is set for 7pm PT.
Tickets for all three third round home games are on sale now! Game four will take place on Wednesday, May 17th, and game five (if necessary) is scheduled for Friday, May 19th. Visit CVFirebirds.com to purchase. Season tickets for the Firebirds’ 2023-24 campaign are on sale now! For a full list of benefits and more information on Season Ticket Memberships for the 2023-24 season, click HERE or call 760-835-8778.