Marathon trip brings Wranglers back to basics

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

THE GAME: Wranglers (11-8-2, fifth in ECHL West) vs. Greenville Grrrowl (10-11-3, fifth in East).

WHEN: Tonight, 7.

WHERE: Orleans Arena.

RADIO: 1400-AM.

There are two sides to the Greenville Grrrowl -- the team that started the year waiting for players to be sent down from Edmonton and went 1-7, and the Greenville Grrrowl that has gone 9-4-3 since and have two of the ECHL's leading scorers.

Las Vegas Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan was already thinking about Greenville midway through his team's recent massive road trip, as he scouted the Grrrowl's Nov. 26 game at Florida.

He got to see the winning side of the Grrrowl, the side with Carl Mallette and his league-leading 30 points and 24 goals in 15 games, and linemate Martin St. Pierre's 27 points and 21 assists, which have him fourth in points and second in assists.

"We have to be conscious when we're out there," Gulutzan said. "I really don't look at other teams and say what we need to do. ... we're aware of those players, but they're not changing what we do. We may match up, play certain guys against them, but we're not changing anything we do."

With 16 of their 21 games decided by one goal, the Wranglers might not have too much to worry about if they stick to what they've done so far. Greenville has allowed an ECHL-high 74 goals this season.

"Most offensive teams don't like to play defense," said Las Vegas defenseman Ryan Gaucher, who is tied with teammate Jason McBain at 14 points, fifth in the ECHL among defensemen.

Aside from the 12 points the team picked up on its 22-day road excursion, Gaucher said the Wranglers were able to bond busing across the Southeast, then flying from Miami to Denver to Anchorage.

"We did well; it was a good bonding experience for the team," Gaucher said. "We were basically away for a month together, you play the game and focus on your teammates. It was a long time but it makes it that much better to be back, it feels that much better at home."

Rookie forward Dustin Johner said the longest road trip of his career was pretty much what he thought it would be.

"It seemed longer than 12 days, but eight games in 12 nights is a lot when you're playing as much as we were," Johner said. "It was good to have the road trip we did. We got points in almost every game."

American Conference teams were kind to the Wranglers, as on their recent swing across the Gulf Coast the team went 4-2-0. Las Vegas then closed its 10-game stretch of road games by going 1-1-2 with two games each at Alaska and Idaho.

"I'm disappointed," Gulutzan said of losing both games at Boise last weekend. "I felt Friday night we deserved maybe a little better fate, and on Saturday we played real good in the second period. We came out flat and got behind, and we worked hard to get back in it."

The Wranglers will play their first home game since Nov. 20 when they host Greenville tonight at the Orleans Arena. When they left Las Vegas, the Wranglers were at .500 for the first time in the team's two-year history, caught in a pattern of what Gulutzan called "give-one, get-one."

Even though they've improved to 10-8-3 and are in fourth in the ECHL West Division with 23 points, the Wranglers might still be stuck in that pattern. But as they kick off a five-game homestand that includes four games against division opponents, Johner said the team is well aware of the importance of this homestand.

"We've got lots of division games coming up, and at the end of them, we could be in first or we could be in sixth or seventh," Johner said.

After this homestand, the Wranglers have four additional division games before two home games against Peoria.

"We need to be firing on three cylinders," Gulutzan said. "The three lines need to give more, our defense needs to play better. Those things need to be sharp."