AHL Series Preview: Calgary Wranglers vs Tucson Roadrunners

The first round of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs between the Calgary Wranglers and the Tucson Roadrunners begins on Wednesday, with game two being scheduled for Friday and Sunday being the landing spot of the tentative game three, all at 7 PM MST (10 PM EST).

Calgary finished the 2024 AHL regular season seventh in the Pacific Division with a 35-28-6-3 record with 79 points. Tucson finished the season second in the Pacific Division with a 43-23-4-2 record at 92 points, landing them home-ice advantage in the Calder Cup playoffs and granting the Roadrunners their first “Whiteout” at the Tucson Convention Center since their 2018 matchup with the San Jose Barracuda in which Tucson took the series in four games, 3-1, and moved on to play the Texas Stars losing in 5 games, 4-1.

Both teams have been “plagued,” if you will, with absences of players like Josh Doan, Michael Kesselring, Dylan Guenther and Jan Jeník since before the NHL’s All-Star break, as well as intermittent losses including Matthew Villalta, Aku Raty, Miloš Kelemen, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Justin Kirkland, Max Sžuber, Cameron Crotty, John Leonard, Patrick Koch, and Victor Söderström,

The main quartet combined for 66 points with a combined 28 goals and 38 assists in the NHL.

BREAKDOWN:
Josh Doan 5-4–9
Milos Kelemen 5-16–21
Dylan Guenther 18-17–35
Jan Jenǐk 0-1–1

Calgary lost their main goaltender, Dustin Wolf, as well as Adam Klapka, Ilya Solovyov, Jakob Pelletier, Jordan Oesterle, and Walker Duehr.

Wolf appeared in 39 games (20-12-3-4) with a 2.45 GAA and a .922 SV% with the Wranglers but had a 7-7-0 record with the Flames, with a 3.16 GAA and a .893 SV%.

Solovyov, Klapka, Oesterle and Pelletier were four of the Wranglers top 20 point getters.

BREAKDOWN:

Adam Klapka 21-25–46
Jordan Oesterle 2-17–19
Ilya Solovyov 5-10–15
Jakob Pelletier 5-7–12

On the regular season, the teams split their regular season series with two wins and two losses apiece.

Tucson won the first and fourth meetings of the year 3-2, with Oscar Dansk, the goaltender of record, in the first and Dustin Wolf, the goaltender of record, in the second. Calgary won the second 4-0 and the third 5-4, both losses handed to Matthew Villalta in those games.