No argument

Nick Christensen

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 | 10:11 a.m.

It took just 90 seconds for the Wranglers and Bakersfield Condors to get together Thursday night, for what amounted to an extended pregame chat at mid-ice.

By the time the puck dropped 45 minutes later, tensions had cooled considerably. Even though the 2-hour, 49-minute game featured plenty of scrums, only one fight broke out.

More important for Las Vegas, the Wranglers shut out division-leading Bakersfield in a 6-0 rout before an announced crowd of 3,744 at the Orleans Arena. Las Vegas' Sebastien Centomo had 49 saves, what he said was likely a professional career high. The Condors play Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena again tonight.

Thursday's game was the first meeting between the teams since Nov. 18, when Bakersfield beat the Wranglers 5-4 at the Centennial Garden. In that game, Billy Tibbetts left Bakersfield forward Todd Alexander with a concussion from a cross-check, and Bakersfield goalie Randy Petruk was hurt when Condors defensemen pushed Tibbetts into their goaltender.

As the teams took to the ice for warmups at 6:25 p.m., Bakersfield's Dennis Shiryaev approached center ice and began jawing at the Wranglers. The teams quickly huddled at mid-ice in front of the benches for an exchange that lasted about 30 seconds.

As that broke up, Bakersfield's Ashlee Langdone had more words for the Wranglers, and another brief discussion began. No contact was made, and the teams continued warmups without further incident as ECHL officials watched from the rink's entrance.

Referee Dean Sanborn called 108 penalty minutes in the game, and things got progressively more chippy as the game became more lopsided. Just after the game's midway point, Bakersfield's Paul Rosebush hit Tibbetts in his left eye with the butt of his stick, and Shiryaev elbowed Tibbbetts in the face in the third period.

Tibbetts and Langdone were served with 10-minute misconduct penalties after Tibbetts appeared to jaw at the Bakersfield bench early in the third period, which prompted Langdone to swing his stick at Tibbetts from the bench.

"What matters is that we got two points," Tibbetts said. "They were just cheap shots, it's nothing new. They're trying to intimidate other teams."

It was clear from the start neither team would be intimidated. But not even the tension Thursday could overshadow Centomo's performance. Bakersfield had 21 shots in both the second and third periods, including a late barrage on a man advantage. The Condors went 0-for-7 on power plays Thursday, and the Wranglers extended their streak of one power play goal allowed in now 34 chances.

"In the first period, I was a little rusty, but after a couple of shots I was fine," Centomo said. "The guys played awesome. We struggled for a couple of games, but we practiced hard the last two days and it finally paid off."

It was Centomo's seventh professional shutout, and improved his record to 6-4-1 on the season.

"He was very solid. This was a good game for him," Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said. "For our goalie, hopefully, it's a confidence booster."

Petruk, on the other hand, came into the game undefeated in six games with a 2.09 goals allowed average. Nothing went his way Thursday, as unusual bounces allowed Jason McBain to score from about 50 feet out and his brother Mike to get an assist on a similar shot that deflected off Jason Spence.

"I think we got some good opportunities early, and we capitalized on them," Gulutzan said. "We got good bounces, but we've been on the other side of that coin."

And Las Vegas rookie Chris Stanley, who had two goals and two assists Tuesday, said that a big part of the Wranglers' early fire was what happened at the start of warmups.

"We were all expecting it right off the bat. It was only a matter of time. We knew something was going to be said," Stanley said. "It was a good thing for us, we all stood up for each other all game."

Despite the jabs on Tibbetts and a couple of scrums, it seemed as though any leftover hard feelings from the Nov. 18 game might have actually been worsened by the blowout, especially because neither team really let off any steam. The one fight featured Luis Tremblay and Adam Huxley with seven minutes left in the game.

"We were ready for whatever happened," Gulutzan said. "Obviously nothing transpired. Maybe tomorrow."