WA-WJC-TalentGapClosing_ Roughly 24 hours after the Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on New Year's Eve at the Saddledome, the Calgary Wranglers [https://calgarywranglers.com/] kept the party going in the New Year. Thanks to two goals from Rory Kerins [https://theahl.com/stats/player/8617/86/rory-kerins], who leads the AHL in goals, and 31 saves from Devin Cooley [https://theahl.com/stats/player/8668/86/devin-cooley], the Wranglers doubled up [https://theahl.com/stats/game-center/1026940] the Abbotsford Canucks 4-2 on Wednesday. After falling behind 1-0 in the second period on a Sammy Blais' power play goal, Kerins collected his first of the night at 18:19 to even the contest going into the third. On the man advantage at 6:45, Adam Klapka [https://theahl.com/stats/player/9422/86/adam-klapka] tallied his 10th goal of the year to give Calgary their first lead of the night. Nine minutes later, at 15:44, Kerins netted his second goal of the night to extend the home team's lead to 3-1. However, Abbotsford didn't go away easy, cutting into the Wranglers' lead when Christian Wolanin scored less than a minute later at 16:22. But that was their last goal as Sam Honzek [https://theahl.com/stats/player/10159/86/sam-honzek] scored his fifth goal of the year into an empty to seal the 4-2 victory. After 32 games, Kerins ranks first in the league [https://theahl.com/stats/player-stats/all-teams/86?playertype=skater&position=skaters&rookie=no&sort=goals&statstype=standard&page=1&league=4] with goals (21), one of only two players, the other Ethen Frank (Hershey), to reach the 20-goal plateau already. Overall, he is the AHL's second-highest scorer with 34 points. Meanwhile, Dryden Hunt [https://theahl.com/stats/player/6367/86/dryden-hunt] picked up another two assists on Wednesday night to reach 22 this season, the second-best total in the AHL, tied with Vinnie Hinostroza (Milwaukee) and one behind Rocco Grimaldi (Cleveland) for the top spot. Between the pipes, Cooley continued his dominance, bumping his league-leading SV% [https://theahl.com/stats/goalie-stats/all-teams/86?playertype=goalie&qualified=qualified&rookie=no&sort=svpct&statstype=standard&page=1&league=4] to .939 and lowering his GAA to 1.94, as he's chasing Brandon Halverson (Syracuse), who has the best GAA in the AHL at 1.70. The Wranglers are now 2-0-0 under interim head coach Joe Cirella and have improved to 3-1-0 over the Canucks through four meetings this season. Calgary, whose overall record stands at 22-9-1, remains the top team in the AHL [https://theahl.com/stats/standings] with 45 points. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjExNDI4NzY0NzEyNzA3MjMx/thncgybanner-bookmark.png]
