Wranglers set for road trip

Nick Christensen

Monday, Dec. 29, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

Maybe the best thing that could have happened to the Las Vegas Wranglers this weekend was a loss.

The expansion Wranglers lost in regulation on their home ice for the first time in franchise history, a 1-0 defeat to the San Diego Gulls on Saturday. When the same two teams played Sunday in San Diego, Las Vegas returned the favor, winning 4-3.

Chris Kenady and Eric Schneider scored third-period goals to rally the Wranglers Sunday night and end the Gulls' seven-game winning streak.

The win, according to Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan, was an important way to kick off a five game, weeklong roadtrip.

"They knocked us off our perch at home, and we knocked them back. It was a huge win for us," Gulutzan said. "We need to start the road trip well, to give us a moral boost going into the next four road games."

Las Vegas had been nearly invincible at home. Whether visiting teams were spending too much time partying on the Strip or if the desert air just didn't agree with traveling hockey players, Las Vegas had the league's best home mark at 13-0-1 going into Saturday, including two home wins against San Diego. Their sole home loss came in overtime Nov. 4 against the Florida Everblades.

San Diego coach Steve Martinson justly credited his team's goaltending for Saturday's win.

"(Trevor) Koenig was up for the challenge," Martinson said. "Their goaltenders have gotten a lot of notoriety, I think they're one and two. Koenig is used to being the top dog."

The Wranglers' tandem of Marc Magliarditi and rookie Brent Krahn have combined to give Las Vegas the league's third-best goals against average, at 2.48 goals a game. What makes that impressive is opponents average nearly 34 shots a game against the Wranglers, the 10th-worst in the ECHL.

"We came in here our first two games, made 40 shots and got one point," Martinson said. "They're a good team, with some veteran players, and that's why it's hard to come in here and win."

Almost as much as they've dominated at home, the Wranglers have struggled on the road this year, with a 5-6-3 record. On their only extensive road trip this year, Las Vegas went 1-4-2, with the one win against Long Beach, one of the ECHL's worst teams. The other six games were against Eastern Conference teams.

But Gulutzan said that the road record didn't represent the quality of play.

"I thought we played better hockey on the road than at home," Gulutzan said.

The eight-day stretch that began Friday may be the Wranglers' toughest test this season that doesn't involve a trip to Anchorage. After beating Bakersfield Friday and losing Saturday, they bused to San Diego Saturday night for Sunday's game. Today, the team buses to Los Angeles and will fly to Boise, Idaho, for games Tuesday and Wednesday against the Steelheads. They'll then fly back to Southern California for Friday's game against Long Beach, bus back for a Saturday game against San Diego, and return to Las Vegas next week for Tuesday's game against Texas.