Wranglers erupt for five-goal second, snap skid in Laval
Down 1-0, Calgary erupted for five goals in under nine minutes, led by a four-point night from Rory Kerins.
Photo by David Moll / Calgary Wranglers
LAVAL, QC — The Calgary Wranglers snapped an eight-game skid in emphatic fashion Friday night, exploding for five second-period goals in a 5-2 win over the Laval Rocket.
After falling behind early, Calgary delivered its most dominant stretch in weeks, scoring five times in under nine minutes to completely flip the game.
Laval opened the scoring at 5:32 of the first period, as Owen Beck finished a play set up by Sean Farrell and David Reinbacher.
From there, it was all Calgary.
At 3:49 of the second, Rory Kerins tied the game, finishing a feed from Lucas Ciona.
At 6:55, William Stromgren gave Calgary the lead, with assists from Kerins and Daniil Miromanov.
Kerins struck again at 10:46, extending the lead to 3-1, converting passes from Dryden Hunt and Nick Cicek.
At 11:46, Martin Frk added another, with Kerins and Cicek picking up the assists.
Just 34 seconds later at 12:20, Sam Morton capped the surge, finishing a play from Frk and Ciona to make it 5-1.
Laval got one back late in the second at 18:28, as Tyler Thorpe scored with assists from Luke Mittelstadt and Josh Nadeau, but the damage was already done.
Rory Kerins finished with a four-point night (2G, 2A) and was named first star. Martin Frk (1G, 1A) earned second star honours, while Thorpe was named third star for Laval.
Calgary outshot Laval 29-18, including a decisive 16-shot second period. In goal, Arsenii Sergeev stopped 16 of 18 shots for a .889 save percentage.
Both teams were held scoreless on the power play, with Calgary going 0-for-4 and Laval 0-for-1.
Calgary will look to carry that momentum into a rematch Saturday afternoon.