Coachella Valley Falls 4-1 To Calgary In AHL 2nd Round Playoff Opener

The Coachella Valley Firebirds were forced to wait almost two weeks between the end of the AHL regular season and starting the Calder Cup playoffs.

Firebirds coach Dan Bylsma had two words for the wait. "Painstakingly agonizing."

That could also describe Game 1 of Coachella Valley's 2nd round series against the Calgary Wranglers at the Saddledome. The Wrangles broke open a defensive duel with two late empty-netters for a harder-than-it-sounds 4-1 victory.

Possibly due to their long layoff, the Firebirds had trouble scoring (why does that sound familiar?) despite a 36-27 SOG advantage.

Defenseman Ryker Evans, who played 36 games with the Seattle Kraken, scored the only Coachella Valley goal. In fact, the last seven minutes of the 2nd period was pretty much the Ryker Evans show, with a lot of other guys skating around.

Evans' goal at 13:41 knotted the score at 1-1. 35 seconds later, he was whistled for high sticking. Just 1:32 after exiting the box, Ryker was penalized again for high sticking. The Firebirds killed that one off, too, eventually recording a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK.

Coachella Valley got its own power play with eight minutes left and a chance to tie the game. Calgary netminder Dustin Wolf had other ideas.

Forward Jani Nyman was the only Kraken prospect called up to the AHL to play in Game 1. He recorded one shot. (We detailed the nine junior and college players on the Firebirds roster in our game preview .)

Another prospect up on an amateur tryout, Lleyton Roed, did get to wear his Firebirds sweater - at a team watch party. "The guys have been super welcoming," Roed told a KESQ-TV reporter.  "Obviously, it's a new league, and I've enjoyed the transition. The whole Valley's behind us, 10,000 fans every single night."