Short-handed Wranglers struggle

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

Playing with only about three-quarters of the team healthy, the Las Vegas Wranglers took the ice in less than ideal shape for a first-place division showdown with the San Diego Gulls.

The Wranglers came out of the gate slowly Tuesday and struggled on penalty killing, allowing the Gulls four goals in seven power plays and falling to San Diego 5-2 before an announced crowd of 3,786 at the Orleans Arena. Las Vegas fell to 24-11-5 on the year, four points behind the first-place Gulls. The Wranglers have lost four of their past seven home games, and seven of their past 14 games overall.

The Gulls' Dan Cousineau scored the first goal for San Diego, and Marc Pederson and Sammy Nassredinne both added two each. Eric Schneider and Jason McBain both scored second-period goals for Las Vegas.

The Wranglers seemed to lack focus through the game, missing passes and leaving defensive assignments open.

"We were caught standing around looking at pucks, both our defense and our forwards," Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said after the game. "When you play against good teams, you can't do that."

Despite the shared blame, Gulutzan pulled rookie goalie Brent Krahn after 33 minutes and four goals. He said he made the move in part to put pressure on the rest of his team.

"Krahn made some big saves," he said. "He had to bear the brunt of the team tonight. ... It's a team game. If I have to sacrifice one guy for the team, that's what I have to do."

Krahn said he didn't feel on top of his game coming out, despite the apparent vote of confidence in getting the start against one of the ECHL's hottest teams.

"I'm definitely frustrated," he said. "It's the biggest game of the year, and I came out flat and didn't play well."

Gulutzan cited the quality of the team Krahn was facing in defense of his goalkeeper, who made 19 saves including 13 in the first period.

"Pederson is a 50-point scorer at every level he's played at," Gulutzan said of the San Diego forward.

Pederson leads the ECHL with 28 goals and has a 15-game goal-scoring streak.

"We all go through games like this," said goalie Marc Magliarditi, who replaced Krahn and logged 14 saves. "I've had them. They got some good bounces tonight."

The goal Magliarditi allowed was scored on a 5-on-3 power play following a holding call on Doug Wright and a controversial cross-checking call on Eric Schneider.

Schneider didn't want to talk about the cross-checking penalty after the game, but Magliarditi said he didn't think it was the right call to make.

"That happens a hundred times during the course of the game," Magliarditi said. "In a two-goal hockey game, with first place on the line, to put a team 5-on-3 for almost two minutes, it's not a good call."

Jason McBain was called for a 10-minute misconduct penalty shortly after San Diego's fifth goal. He too was displeased with the call, even after a long closed-door chat with Gulutzan.

"It was a garbage call, when you have 5-on-3 and a lead, have a power play, and at the end, first place," he said. "Maybe we weren't going to win the game, but I still think those calls weren't the right calls at the right time."

But he added a much simpler explanation for what went wrong for his team Tuesday night.

"It was a momentum game," he said, "and the momentum went their way at the end."