Coachella Valley Firebirds complete home-away-from-home series with win over Calgary
The Coachella Valley Firebirds rebounded from Friday night’s loss with a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Wranglers on Saturday afternoon at Kraken Community Iceplex.
The Firebirds, the 32nd and newest franchise in the American Hockey League, improved to 4-2 in their inaugural season.
The first goal of the game came more than halfway through the contest after Matthew Phillips opened the scoring to give Calgary a 1-0 lead.
The Firebirds used a powerplay goal from Ville Petman (second of the season) to even the game at 13:27 of the second. Andrew Poturalski gave Coachella Valley the lead by batting the puck out of mid-air past Wranglers’ netminder Oskar Dansk for his fourth of the season.
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The Firebirds added two insurance markers in the third period as Jimmy Schuldt ripped a wrist shot into the back of the net for his second of the season at 6:28 and Carsen Twarynski increased the lead to 4-1 with his third goal in as many games.
Calgary responded with two goals in :35 to make it a one-goal game late in the third period, but Jesper Froden’s empty-netter with 1:05 left sealed the 5-3 victory for Coachella Valley.
Netminder Callum Booth turned away 38 of 41 Calgary shots to secure his first win as a Firebird. Coachella Valley finished the game 1-for-4 on the powerplay and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill
The Firebirds, the affiliate for the NHL's Seattle Kraken, travel to Abbotsford to face the Canucks for a pair of games on Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5. Both games start at 6 p.m.
The Firebirds are playing their first 22 games away from the Coachella Valley. Their home opener will take place at Acrisure Arena, which is nearing completion along Interstate 10 near Palm Desert, on Sunday, Dec. 18 against the Tucson Roadrunners.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: AHL hockey: Coachella Valley Firebirds complete home-away-from-home series with win over Calgary
