Help arrives, but Wranglers fizzle late again

Nick Christensen

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

With the offensive side of the Las Vegas Wranglers roster raked by early-season injuries, Wranglers coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan saw an offer he couldn't refuse.

A hard-hitting, high scoring NHL veteran forward became immediately available. He was signed right away.

Forward Billy Tibbetts, who played parts of two seasons with three NHL teams, was waived by San Diego last week when the Gulls signed Chicago Blackhawks center Curtis Brown. By signing the NHL player, the Gulls were forced to dump one of the four veterans they're allowed to have per ECHL rules.

Tibbetts joined the Wranglers in time to play in Thursday's game at Bakersfield, the league's best team at 8-0-1. The Condors scored two third-period goals to secure the 5-4 victory, and as for Tibbetts, he was ejected for a high sticking major five minutes into the final period. Tibbetts totaled 23 penalty minutes in his Wranglers debut, moving him to tops in the league with 79.

Still, with the Wranglers short on forwards, Gulutzan said signing Tibbetts was a no-brainer.

"He's arguably the best player in the league," Gulutzan said. "He's a great, great hockey player. I don't know if you can say that one player is the solution, we've got to tighten up as a 20-man unit."

Tibbetts was claimed off waivers from San Diego last week, but his joining the Wranglers wasn't solidified until Thursday afternoon. He declined comment after Thursday's game, but Gulutzan said being released from the Gulls, where he had probably his best season as a professional with 53 points last year, disturbed the 30-year-old Wranglers forward.

"He was pretty shook up that he was leaving San Diego," Gulutzan said. "He was pretty entrenched there and established. He had a lot of good roots in the community. He wasn't sure where he was at there for a couple of days."

Gulutzan may be wondering the same thing about his defense. It was the fourth time this year his team's given up four or more goals, and it didn't help that Bakersfield outshot Las Vegas 43-23. While part of the problem is the volume of defensive players moving up to fill holes at forward, Gulutzan said numbers are only part of the problem.

"I think we just need to be more committed to playing defense," he said. "We've got a defense that's very offensive, yet we're not winning any of these 5-4, 6-5 hockey games, so we have to decide what our identity is. If we can't win that way, we have to tighten up defensively. That's what we're hoping we can do, and we'll see how it goes."

Any grand adjustments will have to wait. The Wranglers did not return to Las Vegas until 3:30 a.m. today and passed on a morning skate before tonight's game with the Idaho Steelheads. The last time Idaho was at the Orleans Arena, the Steelheads won the fifth game of the five-game first round playoff series with the Wranglers, en route to winning the Kelly Cup Championship.

"My concern isn't Idaho from last year, my concern is my team this year," Gulutzan said. "We don't make it easy on ourselves. We've got eight forwards and we keep insisting on opening games up. When we're down men like this, we have to tighten up defensively, and we need to get good solid goaltending, too."

The Wranglers play their final home game of November on Saturday, also against Idaho, before embarking on a three week roadtrip that takes them from the Gulf Coast to Anchorage and then two games in Boise. Their next home game after this weekend will be Dec. 14 against Greenville.