Wranglers aren’t in this guy’s league

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 | 10:11 a.m.

NHL first-round draft pick Scott Gomez scored his first minor-league goal Tuesday to help the Alaska Aces beat the Las Vegas Wranglers 5-3 at the Orleans Arena.

Of course, considering Gomez was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 1998 and already has 306 points in his NHL career, his putback of a deflected pass 3:44 into the first period Tuesday wasn't a huge milestone. But it did prompt the Wranglers to focus more on Gomez and allowed linemates Joe Talbot and Mike Scott each to have career nights.

Both Talbot and Scott had one goal and four assists Tuesday, and both had three points in a first period in which Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said his team played "stupid."

"Maybe they were nervous about playing against him," an unusually terse Gulutzan said after watching his team's performance against Gomez, who's playing with the Aces in his native Anchorage while the NHL is idled by a lockout. "He's a great player, and if you give great players that much time, space and opportunities, they're going to stick it to you."

Gomez contributed one assist on top of his goal, the former coming late in the first period with Mike Scott's goal that put Alaska up 3-1, before an announced crowd of 3,974.

After the win, Gomez said that it was a concentrated effort on his part to get his linemates more involved.

"It's no different in the ECHL. That's my job (with New Jersey)," he said. "Playing with guys who know how to get open, it makes my job easy. Talbot and Scott were open all night."

Talbot said that just the presence of his teammate has helped his game.

"It definitely gives you more confidence when you're near the puck," Talbot said. "You know you can just go to the net. They're giving him a lot of respect; it opens up the ice a lot."

Before Gomez suited up with the Aces, his father, Anchorage resident Carlos Gomez, gave him a scouting report on the two players who would become his linemates.

"Scott grips the stick practically to sawdust, and Joey shows flashes," Gomez said. "My dad was telling me, 'Just wait till you see these guys play.' "

Sure enough, it was Talbot trying to pass the puck to the left of Wranglers goaltender Sebastien Centomo that set up Gomez's goal.

Centomo deflected the pass, but Gomez connected over Centomo's left shoulder to put Alaska up 1-0.

"We wanted to get out early," Gomez said. "The team has a history of jumping out early. We wanted to get a jump on that team."

A little more than minutes later, Scott and Talbot fed Olivier Fillion to put the Aces up 2-0. It would be another 12 minutes before Las Vegas finally got on the board, when Dan Tudin scored the first of his two goals of the night. In another 38 seconds, Scott scored his goal, putting Alaska up 3-1.

Things were just as rapid-fire in the second period. Darren Lynch connected a little less than five minutes into the period to bring Las Vegas to within one, but 96 seconds later, Alaska's Lou Mass put the Aces up for good. The assists? Mike Scott and Joe Talbot.

Even with Tudin's second goal coming 22 seconds after Mass', Las Vegas was unable to find the momentum it needed to break even. Talbot's empty net goal on a breakaway with 1:19 left killed any chance of overtime.

"We've got to get rid of this give one, get one syndrome," Gulutzan said. "As a team, we have to commit to defense."

Alaska's win bumped the Aces to first place in the ECHL's West Division, with 11 points.

Las Vegas remained in fifth place at seven points, ahead of Fresno (five) and Victoria (four).