PREVIEW - WRANGLERS VS. CANUCKS - GAME 3

The Calgary Wranglers look to wrap up their second round series vs. the Canucks on Wednesday night in Abbotsford.

Game 3 is set for an 8:00 p.m. MT start, with AHL TV carrying the stream and Sportsnet 960 The FAN hosting the radio broadcast.

Series Head-To-Heat: 2-0

The Wranglers have a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series thanks to a pair of overtime victories at the Scotiabank Saddledome last week. Game 1 saw Jakob Pelletier net the OT tally at 11:52 in the 3-2 win. In Game 2, it was Calgarian Matthew Phillips who played the hero, scoring at 7:49 in the extra frame to earn his club a 4-3 win.

Defenceman Nick DeSimone leads all Wranglers skaters with four points through the the first two games while Dryden Hunt, Clark Bishop, Ben Jones, Pelletier, and Phillips all have two points each.

Dustin Wolf has been in net for both victories, stopping 61 of the 66 shots he's face. He holds a 2.15 GAA and a .924 save percentage heading into Game 3.

Regular Season Head-To-Head: 8-4-0

AWAY:Abbotsford Canucks (40-25-3-4) (87 Pts. - 4th in Pacific)

HOME: Calgary Wranglers (51-17-3-1) (106 Pts. - 1st in Pacific, 1st in AHL)

PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

• November 25, 2022 vs. Canucks - CGY W, 5-1
• November 27, 2022 vs. Canucks - CGY W, 4-3 (OT)
• January 2, 2023 vs. Canucks - ABB W, 5-2
• January 4, 2023 vs. Canucks - CGY W, 3-0
• January 18, 2023 @ Canucks - CGY W, 3-2 (OT)
• January 20, 2023 @ Canucks - CGY W, 5-4 (SO)
• January 21, 2023 @ Canucks - CGY W, 5-3
• February 14, 2023 vs. Canucks - CGY W, 4-1
• February 15, 2023 vs. Canucks - ABB W, 4-2
• April 15, 2023 @ Canucks - CGY W, 3-2
• April 14, 2023 @ Canucks - ABB W, 4-1
• April 12, 2023 @ Canucks - ABB W, 2-0

Player to Watch: Nick DeSimone

The veteran defenceman has been a rock on the blueline all year and that hasn't changed in the postseason. The East Amherst, NY product leads all Wranglers skaters with four points and is now only two points shy of his Calder Cup Playoffs career-high of six points, which he registered in 13 games in 2017 as a member of the San Jose Barracuda.

In the regular season, DeSimone posted eight goals and 46 points, which led all Wranglers defencemen in scoring. He also suited up for four games with the Flames in 2022-23.

Quotables

Forward Dryden Hunt on Game 3:

"Every game, you want to build off. I think it was (Matthew Phillips) who said it, those two overtime games could have gone either way. We definitely have more to give. We know it's hard to play in that arena. We'll be ready."

Hunt on practices this week:

"We worked on some forecheck, some neutral zone regroup stuff - not to say that we didn't do that well in the first two games, it's just something we've got to brush up on in between games. We had some time here and worked on a few things. Looks like guys are feeling good."

Assistant coach Don Nachbaur on the team's practices ahead of Game 3:

"Kept it short, kept it sweet, and tried to implement the same things that we've done the last three weeks - our systems, our details to what we do. The guys were really sharp."

Nachbaur on the match-up vs. Abbotsford:

"This might be the toughest battle we've had all year long, with this team here. We knew that coming in, there's no easy steps, there's no easy battles. I can't foresee it being any different in Abbotsford."