The Calgary Wranglers (30-19-4-2) entered Tuesday night's contest against the Coachella Valley Firebirds tied for second place in the AHL Pacific Division. Each team had 66 points.
However, after a 6-1 victory, the Firebirds are now the top team in the Pacific while the Wranglers are left looking for answers after another defeat, their 10th in the last 11 games.
After winning only one game in February, Calgary had a chance to begin March with a clean slate and put their recent struggles behind them.
But, it wasn't meant to be on Tuesday, as Coachella Valley jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period before tacking on two more in the third to secure their 31st victory of the season, catapulting them to the top spot.
Down by a handful of goals in the second period, Dryden Hunt scored his 14th of the year at 18:06, the lone tally for the Wranglers. He fired home a feed from Rory Kerins and Jonathan Aspirot, one of just 20 shots the home team had in the game.
Devin Cooley started for the 11th time in the past 13 games since returning from an injury on Jan. 26. He is looking for his first win since Jan. 31, and finished with 24 saves on 30 shots (.800 SV%), his fourth straight start without posting at least a .900 SV%.
His counterpart at the other end, Niklas Kokko, made 19 stops on 20 shots with an impressive .950 SV%.
In the victory, the Firebirds got goals from Tye Kartye (two), Jacob Melanson, David Goyette, Ryan Winterton, and Jani Nyman. Six Coachella Valley players had multi-point games with Nikolas Brouillard leading the pack with three assists.
There's no time to dwell on Tuesday night's game. The two teams will reengage on Wednesday at the Saddledome, with the puck dropping at 7:00 p.m. MT.