By: Annie Nadin
Calgary dropped a 5-2 decision to the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena, with goals from Dryden Hunt and Nick Cicek not enough to hold off the late push.
It was a sharp start for the Wranglers, who struck first off the rush.
Hunt jumped on a feed from Daniil Miromanov, broke in alone on Nikke Kokko and made no mistake, tucking it home to open the scoring.
Huntsy knew what he had to do 🙂↕️ pic.twitter.com/qpL8060QUq
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 26, 2026
Calgary carried that momentum into penalty kills, denying the Firebirds on four powerplay opportunities in the first frame.
The second period swung the momentum.
Jani Nyman pulled the hosts level after returning just this morning from a stint with the Seattle Kraken, but Calgary answered right back.
Nick Cicek stepped into space at the top of the zone and wired a wrist shot past Kokko off a setup from Aydar Suniev to restore the lead.
Nick Cicek unleashes a wrist-shot to bring the Wranglers back in the lead 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/NvKvtyMDAT
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 26, 2026
From there, the game started to tilt.
Ty Nelson drew the Firebirds even before Eduard Sale capitalised late in the frame, giving Coachella Valley their first lead with under two minutes to go.
Logan Morrison added insurance for the Firebirds in the final period, and Nyman sealed it with an empty-netter to put it out of reach.
