Wranglers build early cushion, hold off Rocket to earn 6-3 win

CALGARY — The Calgary Wranglers built a three-goal first-period lead, extended it to four early in the second, and answered a late push to defeat the Laval Rocket 6-3 at Scotiabank Saddledome, splitting the two-game set.

Calgary opened the scoring 3:23 into the first period when Nick Cicek finished a play from Martin Frk and Dryden Hunt to give the Wranglers a 1-0 lead. The advantage doubled just 32 seconds later as Zayne Parekh scored his first of the season off feeds from Hunt and Frk, making it 2-0.

The Wranglers closed the opening period with their third goal at 16:44, when Frk blasted a long-range slap shot past Jacob Fowler to send Calgary into the intermission with a 3-0 lead.

Calgary continued to control play early in the second period. Parekh struck again at 3:41, scoring his second goal of the game to extend the lead to 4-0.

Laval began to generate momentum late in the period. Jared Davidson broke the shutout at 14:43, cutting the deficit to 4-1. Just over two minutes later, Adam Engström scored on the power play at 16:47 to make it a 4-2 game.

The Rocket pulled within one at 15:56 when Sean Farrell scored his 11th of the season, trimming Calgary’s lead to 4-3. The Wranglers responded before the second intermission, however, as Dryden Hunt restored a two-goal cushion with a power-play goal at 19:15, sending Calgary into the break ahead 5-3.

Calgary protected the lead throughout the third period and sealed the result late, when Frk scored into an empty net at 18:53, his second goal of the night, pushing the final score to 6-3.

Hunt was named the game’s first star after recording one goal and four assists. Parekh earned second-star honors with a two-goal performance, while Frk was named the third star after finishing with two goals and two assists.

Ivan Prosvetov made 33 saves on 36 shots for Calgary, finishing with a .917 save percentage. Fowler stopped 20 of 26 shots for Laval, posting a .769 save percentage.