Wranglers grab early lead in playoffs

Stephen Sylvanie / Special to the Sun

Las Vegas center Justin Taylor stick handles between Bakersfield skaters Bruce Graham, left, and Dan Lapointe in the second period of the Wranglers’ 2009 home playoff opener at the Orleans Arena on Apr. 10.

By Brett Okamoto (contact)

Saturday, April 11, 2009 | midnight

With just five returning members from last year’s National Conference Champion squad, it’s been a lot of new faces that have helped the Wranglers to their fourth consecutive playoff appearance.

But it was two familiar ones who led this year’s young group to a 3-1 win over Bakersfield in Game 1 of the Pacific Division semifinals at the Orleans Arena on Friday night.

Kelly Czuy scored twice, Adam Miller scored once and they both notched one assist as the Wranglers improved to 6-3-1, 4-1 at home, over the Condors this season.

“We had a long playoff run last year so there’s a few guys from that run that know what it takes,” Miller said. “I think the other guys are contributing right away, everybody’s giving 100 percent and I thought we looked good tonight.”

The Condors caught Las Vegas off-guard at the start of the game, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from center Brett Pilkington in the first minute of the game.

But Czuy, in his third year with the Wranglers, evened the score seven minutes later on a breakaway setup by teammate Dan Riedel. With 2:36 remaining in the first period, Czuy helped give the Wranglers a 2-1 lead, serving up a pretty assist to Miller, who knocked it past Condors goalie Yutake Fukufuji. Miller is in his second year with the team.

The two were at it again shortly after the first intermission, Miller assisting Czuy this time for his second goal of the night just four minutes into the second period.

“They had a little bit of chemistry, we kinda noticed that, and that’s why we had them in together,” Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said. “They had it tonight, that’s for sure. That line can be a real dangerous line. They’re hard to handle with their speed and the chemistry they’ve got going.”

After allowing the early goal, Wranglers goalie Glenn Fisher was terrific the rest of the night, recording 28 saves.

As well as the Wranglers looked Friday, they’ll likely be even stronger by Monday when they’ll receive three players back from the AHL. Forwards Mike Hamilton and J.D. Watt, and defenseman Daniel Spang will be back on the active roster as all of their AHL teams failed to make the playoffs.

“We’ll see what happens, we are going to get three guys back on Monday,” Gulutzan said. “Three pretty good players but they’re going to have to come in and battle for ice time, too.”

The Wranglers now lead the series 1-0. They’ll take on the Condors again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Orleans Arena.

Stars of the Game: Kelly Czuy: 2 goals, 1 assist; Dan Riedel: 3 assists; Adam Miller: 1 goal, 1 assist

Instant Replay: According to at least Kelly Czuy, the final score should have been 4-1 Friday night. Midway through the second period Adam Miller took a shot that appeared to go well across the goal line but was called a save for the Condors.

Czuy spent a good two minutes following the officials around pointing to the replay.

“I saw it cross the line,” Czuy said. “I was really surprised the goal light didn’t go off.”

Next Up: The Wranglers host Bakersfield in Game 2 of the Pacific Division Semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Orleans Arena.

Final Word: “It’s only one game right?” Czuy said. “It takes four games to win a series so hopefully we can come out tomorrow and play the way we did tonight.”