Wolf Shines In Game 1 Win For Wranglers

Game 1 of the Wranglers-Roadrunners first-round series can be dubbed The Dustin Wolf Show.

The Flames prospect was absolutely spectacular in the 2-0 victory in Tucson, making 46 saves in his fifth career AHL postseason shutout.

"Probably the best I've ever seen Dustin play for us," head coach Trent Cull said afterwards.

"It's almost hard to believe some of the saves he was making there today, to keep us in (the game), keep us in those situations. I think it's awesome, I think it's just great. Like we've said, we didn't want giving ourselves that much opportunity to be (penalty) killing and giving them that much opportunity on the powerplay. But having Wolfie back there just solidifies us. It puts a lot of confidence in our group." 

The Wranglers took six minor penalties in the victory, with three coming in the first 15 minutes of the game, but Wolf stood tall throughout the evening and stopped 15 shots in the first period, 15 in the middle frame, and closed out the night with 16 saves in the third period.

After a scoreless first period, Cole Schwindt opened the scoring at 6:14 of the second stanza, deking around a defender and deftly backhanding the puck over Tucson goaltender Matthew Villalta's blocker. His fellow Flames prospects Adam Klapka and Jakob Pelletier collected the assists on the club's first goal of the postseason.

"It was a great play," Schwindt said. "Pelts up to Klaps, I was calling for it, and then Klaps made a great play. I just tried to get across the net and get a shot on net, luckily it went in."

Schwindt's marker stood as the lone goal of the game until the final minute, when Matthew Coronato was able to put in an empty-netter as the Roadrunners pulled their goalie in a bid find the equalizer as the clock wound down.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series takes place on Friday at 8:00 p.m. MT, with the broadcast being streamed on AHL TV and Sportsnet 960 carrying the radio broadcast, which features Sandra Prusina and Cass Vilgrain on the call.

The Wranglers are looking to build off the momentum gained in Game 1 as they try to sweep the series.

"We just stuck with it," Schwindt said. "It's great to have Dustin Wolf back there, he's an unbelievable goaltender and we have full faith in him back there. We just stuck to what we're good at tonight and we're looking forward to Friday."