Magliarditi stymies Fresno, records shutout

Nick Christensen

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.

A busy week and exhausting weekend for the Las Vegas Wranglers concluded Sunday with goalie Marc Magliarditi earning the first shutout in franchise history. The game against the last-place Fresno Falcons appeared headed to overtime scoreless, but defenseman Deryk Engelland's shot through traffic with 21.9 seconds remaining nudged off the Wranglers' Blaine Bablitz and found the back of the net.

The 1-0 victory pulled the Wranglers to within two points of first place in the ECHL Pacific Division and concluded their stretch of five games in six nights. It came after two big nights from new goalie Dany Sabourin, sent down to Double-A last week from Calgary of the National Hockey League. Sabourin took the Wranglers to a 2-1 overtime win against first-place San Diego Friday, saving 22 of 23 shots. Then, the Wranglers put the "X" on their line in the league's standings, securing a playoff berth in their inaugural season by winning at Bakersfield 5-2. Sabourin stopped 27 of 29 stops Saturday in the Central Valley.

Las Vegas' record after their five game winning streak is now 36-17-6.

Sunday's game was also Fresno's fifth in six nights, and both teams came out sluggish, combining for eight shots on goal in the first period. But both Magliarditi, who finished with 23 saves, and Fresno goalie Mike Brusseau, who had 30, made some quick saves in the second and third periods.

"It looked like it was going to go to overtime 0-0," Magliarditi said. "Fortunately, it didn't get to that."

After the win, Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said he thought fatigue played a major role.

"If both teams are playing their first game in this many nights, it's not a 0-0 hockey game in my opinion," Gulutzan said. "If some people thought the game was boring tonight, that's what happens when you make two professional hockey games play five games in six nights. Both teams were very, very tired."

He added that he was surprised to see his team come out of the most exhausting week of the season with 10 points. He'd said before the stretch of games, the team's "goal was to get five or six points out of the next 10 available."

Six days later, Gulutzan's team is on the second-longest winning streak in the ECHL, and is 7-2-1 in their past 10. Only the Wheeling Nailers have a longer streak and better past 10 games.

"I am surprised we got 10," Gulutzan said. "We had different guys every night stepping up to the plate. I think our D-corps and our goaltending really came to play. That really made a difference."

On the five-game winning streak, the Wranglers have allowed eight goals. But with a snakebitten offense that is still plagued with injury, they've had little choice.

Now, Gulutzan has to juggle lineups, rest players, and try to keep his team in contention for the top seed in the Pacific Division while going through a drought of games. The Wranglers play four games -- two at Fresno, two more at Bakersfield -- before returning home March 19 for their first meeting with Idaho since December.

"You're always looking to improve your hockey club," Gultuzan said. "The first step's getting healthy and the second step's getting these guys in shape. No matter how much they skate, or ride the bike, or whatever, it's game hockey, it's game shape that gets you into the game. We need to get Kevin O'Flaherty back, and Eric Schneider, and Tom Nelson needs to get in some better conditioning here... the biggest thing about March is to get healthy, and get your lineups set, so you can head into the playoffs."