Focused on Alaska

Friday, April 21, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

Wranglers defenseman and captain Mike McBain had his finger on his teammates' pulse after a stirring comeback victory over Idaho in the West Division semifinals of the ECHL playoffs.

Las Vegas became the second team in the league's 18-year history to rebound from a 3-1 deficit and win a series. Now, the Wranglers play Alaska, the only team that had a better regular-season record than Las Vegas.

"We're a fired-up team," McBain said. "Guys have a lot of confidence now, but we're not going to take it lightly."

After Las Vegas capped the comeback with a resounding 6-2 victory Wednesday night at the Orleans Arena, left wing Sean O'Connor traipsed around the Wranglers' locker room putting as little weight as possible on his right leg.

"So tired," he said. "But we're on our game. We're a tough team to beat, and hard work paid off. We're happy and excited, but we're already getting our mind set for Alaska."

Las Vegas finished the regular season at 53-13-6 and 112 points, the third-highest total in ECHL history. Alaska ended 53-12-7, a point ahead of the Wranglers. The Aces swept Utah in four games in the other West semifinal.

The Wranglers leave for Anchorage on Saturday and will play the first two games of the best-of-seven West finals in Alaska on Monday and Tuesday. The series returns to Las Vegas for Games 3 and 4 next Thursday and Saturday .

"We had a battle every night, and Alaska won (their playoff series) 4-0," said Wranglers goalie Marc Magliarditi. "I think we're a little more in playoff mode and ready to battle night after night. They'll have a tough time with us, if we play like we just did."

The Bear awakens

Although they couldn't pinpoint the perpetrators, McBain and Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said a few Steelheads said some things after Game 2 that fired up the Wranglers for the rest of the series.

Both said they heard the visitors say they were halfway to a sweep.

"That's like poking a wounded bear," McBain said. "We did everything we could to get back at these guys, and it worked out for us."

The Wranglers scored two total goals in the first two games. In the last three games, Las Vegas scored 17 times.

"There was a comment about a sweep, but I knew we had too much character to let that happen," Gulutzan said.

For Yeats' sake

Idaho goalie Matt Yeats was outstanding in Game 1, stopping all 49 shots that Las Vegas slapped at him. The Steelheads won, 1-0, near the end of the second overtime.

Wednesday was a different story. The Wranglers beat Yeats, 6-0, on Tuesday at the Orleans Arena, then took a 3-1 lead on him halfway through the first period Wednesday.

At that point, Idaho coach Derek Laxdal yanked Yeats and put in Steve Silverthorn.

"That couldn't have been a good feeling," Magliarditi said of his counterpart. "I was surprised he got the start, actually, because of (Tuesday) night. Not that he's a bad goalie ... mentally, it's tough to come back from giving up six.

"Then, giving up three early like that. It was tough for him."

Game 7 lullaby

At 2 weeks and 3 days old, Kathleen Pasion was likely the youngest person at Wednesday's Game 7. She slept through the game, though, as 5,147 raucous fans made themselves heard.

Wranglers defenseman Tyler Sloan said the loud crowd played a major role, and proud parents Nova and Adam Pasion said they'll tell little Kathleen all about it in a few years.

Nova Pasion, who has lived in Las Vegas for all of her 35 years, said she attended games with her husband this season while she was pregnant. "And I wanted to come here again, with her," Nova Pasion said, "to watch the Wranglers beat Idaho.''

No small potatoes

"BYEDEAHO" might have been the best banner at Wednesday's game. "How 'bout them taters?" and "Bring on Alaska" were also crowd favorites.