Wranglers fall late as Canucks rally for 5-4 win
Clark Bishop marked his 500th AHL game with a two-goal, one-assist night, but Calgary’s 4–2 lead slipped away as Abbotsford scored three in the third, including a late winner, to take a 5–4 decision at the Saddledome.
Photo by David Moll / Calgary Wranglers
CALGARY — A milestone night for the captain turned into a late collapse, as the Abbotsford Canucks erased a two-goal deficit and stunned the Calgary Wranglers 5–4 with a third-period surge at the Saddledome.
Clark Bishop, skating in his 500th American Hockey League game, delivered early and often. Early in the first, Arsenii Sergeev robbed Danila Klimovich with a diving stop on a wraparound to keep the game scoreless. Then the Wranglers captain opened the scoring at 11:31 of the first period after Carter Wilkie forced a turnover behind the Abbotsford net and fed Bishop alone in the slot. Bishop went high glove to make it 1–0 Calgary, a lead they carried through 20 minutes.
The second period opened with pace and chances at both ends. Arsenii Sergeev turned aside a breakaway from Nils Åman moments after a Calgary power play, but Abbotsford broke through at 4:44 when Bennett Schimek finished a backhand setup from Sawyer Mynio, with Arshdeep Bains adding the secondary assist to tie the game 1–1.
Calgary responded with its special teams.
On the power play, Bishop struck again at 6:24, banging home a rebound at the top of the crease after a Gavin White point shot, with William Strömgren adding the second assist. Minutes later, the Wranglers went back to the man advantage and Rory Kerins finished a cross-crease feed from Dryden Hunt to extend the lead to 3–1.
Abbotsford answered to keep it close. Danila Klimovich buried a rebound at 14:34 off a Jimmy Schuldt shot, with Åman recording the secondary assist to make it 3–2. But Calgary regained control late in the frame when David Silye scored his third of the season at 18:52, finishing a slick pass from Bishop, with Brennan Othmann also picking up an assist, restoring a 4–2 lead heading into the third.
Then it unraveled.
Ben Berard cut the deficit to one at 4:13 of the third with an unassisted backhand finish, and the ice began to tilt. Klimovich struck again at 17:14, tying the game 4–4 with assists from Schuldt and Åman as Abbotsford continued to push.
The decisive moment came in the final minute. Sergeev made a sprawling right-pad save but lost his blade on the play and could not recover to his feet. Moments later, a turnover at the blue line led to an open look, and Berard capitalized with 37.9 seconds remaining, scoring his second of the night unassisted to complete the comeback and give Abbotsford a 5–4 win.
Abbotsford outshot Calgary 42–28, including a dominant 15–4 margin in the third period. Calgary finished 2-for-3 on the power play, while Abbotsford went 0-for-1 but generated its offense at even strength when it mattered.
In goal, Sergeev stopped 37 of 42 shots for an .881 save percentage. At the other end, Ty Young turned aside 24 of 28 for an .857 mark, but held firm as the momentum shifted late.
Bishop led Calgary with two goals and one assist in his milestone night, earning first-star honours. Berard’s two third-period goals drove the comeback as the second star, while Klimovich’s two-goal effort rounded out the three stars.
Calgary, coming off a strong weekend in Laval and closing in on the end of its regular season home slate, will get an immediate chance to respond Saturday night in the rematch with Abbotsford before heading on the road to finish the campaign in Colorado.