Wranglers suffer first loss of season, fall 5-4 to Condors
Photo by David Moll / Calgary Wranglers
CALGARY — Two goals from Ben Jones weren't enough to keep the Calgary Wranglers unbeaten Sunday, as the Bakersfield Condors rallied for a 5-4 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome.
"At the end of the day, can't let in five, and I thought we made some mistakes in some critical moments," Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter told reporters following Sunday's game.
Jones opened the scoring on the power play at 4:04 of the first, recording his 100th career point as a Wrangler to give Calgary the early lead. Bakersfield answered with goals from Daniel D'Amato and Aku Räty to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Captain Rory Kerins tied it 6:21 into the second, netting his first goal of the season on feeds from Alex Nylander and Abram Wiebe — the latter recording his first career AHL point. Just 28 seconds later, Sam Morton found the back of the net to give the Wranglers a 3-2 lead, and for a moment the perfect start looked safe.
"I thought that was exactly the way we wanted to play. I thought we were a fast team. I thought we kept playing direct and keeping them on their heels," Sutter said.
It wasn't. Quinn Hutson recorded a brace in the second — his fourth and fifth goals in four games — including a late power-play marker to restore Bakersfield's lead at 4-3.
"For most of the game we were the better team. I just think there was parts in all three periods where we kind of got a little lackadaisical and they kind of took it to us," Kerins told reporters after the game.
Simon Tassy added a shorthanded goal 3:57 into the third, his first professional goal, to make it 5-3.
Jones brought Calgary back within one, scoring his second goal of the night and the 100th AHL goal of his career, but the Wranglers couldn't complete the comeback.
Jones, Nylander and Wiebe each finished with two-point performances. Kirill Zarubin made the start in goal, stopping 21 of 26 shots.
The loss drops Calgary to 3-1 on the season and splits the two-game weekend series after Friday's 2-1 Wranglers win. The Wranglers now hit the road for six games, opening in San Jose against the Barracuda on Wednesday, October 14, with puck drop set for 11:30 a.m.
"Obviously we're off to a good start, disappointing game tonight, but just continue to take steps, continue to build who we are and what team we want to be," Sutter said.
Lawrence Meyers captured video of the scoring highlights for Provectus Media which can be found across our social media channels.
This recap is brought to you in part by Animas Painting — interior and exterior painting in Calgary. Reach Rafael at 403-604-5529.