Wranglers dominate Condors to advance to division finals

By Steve Silver

Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 1 a.m.

The Las Vegas Wranglers didn't just stave off elimination Wednesday night; they slapped it in the face.

Unwilling to settle for an early exit from the playoffs, the defending National Conference champion Wranglers blasted the Bakersfield Condors 5-1 in front of 3,244 fans at the Orleans Arena in game 7 of the Pacific Division semifinals.

"This shows the character of this team," said Las Vegas goalie Glenn Fisher, who made 31 saves to seal the victory. "All the guys in here, we weren't down ourselves when we were down 3-2. We knew we could win in this building, that's what we did."

Las Vegas capitalized six minutes into the contest on an extended power play when Chris St. Croix lifted a rebound over a sprawling Yutaka Fukufuji for the 1-0 lead with just one second remaining in the power play.

Less than five minutes later, Chris Neiszner scored his first goal of the playoffs when he buried a doorstep feed from J.D. Watt with 9:32 remaining in the first period to extend the Wranglers' lead to 2-0.

The Wranglers took that 2-0 advantage into the first intermission, but they knew all too well that no lead was safe against the Condors. Las Vegas had blown four different two-goal leads in three earlier games in the series.

"We made adjustments all week to make sure that we could hold on to a lead," Las Vegas coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan said. "It's a process and we've worked on it and the guys have executed it. That's the biggest thing. You can talk about it, but you have to do it. They bought in and they did it."

Determined to maintain that lead, Neiszner struck again less than two minutes into the second period when he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle past an unsuspecting Fukufuji to bury the Condors in a 3-0 hole.

The Condors did light up the scoreboard once as Mark Derlago deflected a Jay Langager shot from the point past Fisher during a power play midway through the second period to cut their deficit to 3-1.

But that was all Bakersfield could muster as Dan Riedel and Dan Spang tallied goals within five minutes of each other to close out the second period with a 5-1 lead.

"I guess sometimes the best defense is scoring a couple goals against them," Neiszner said. "I don't like to say (Bakersfield) shut it down, because they came hard right to the end, but we got two goals against them and it kind of turned the tide in terms of shutting them down."

Fisher then made 14 saves in the third period to clinch a trip to the Pacific Division finals against the Stockton Thunder.

The fourth-seeded Thunder upset the regular season division champion Ontario Reign 5-4 in game 7 of their series Wednesday night.

Las Vegas should have home ice advantage to start the next series, but due to a scheduling conflict with the World Wide Dream Builders Spring Leadership conference this weekend at the Orleans Arena, the Wranglers will start on the road Friday night at Stockton Arena. Games one, three and four are in Stockton due to the adjusted schedule.

"You can't control that, so why worry about it?" Gultuzan said.

Stars of the game: 1. Chris Neiszner (2 goals, 1 assist); 2. Glenn Fisher (31 saves); 3. Scott McCulloch (3 assists).

The Mosienko effect: Less than eight hours after arriving from Rockford, Tyler Mosienko suited up for game 7 and apparently brought a much-needed mental boost to the Wranglers.

Although Mosienko and his line mates Mike Hamilton and Justin Taylor did not register a point, Gulutzan was still thrilled to have No. 14 back in the locker room.

"We could use anything we could get and I thought he did give us a little bit of juice," Gulutzan said. "It's a mindset. I thought Mosienko played an OK game tonight. He's a good penalty killer and he works his tail off, but our dressing room just gets a little more swagger to it when he's here. All around I think he brings everyone up."

Roster report: The Wranglers are almost back to full strength with the exception of forward Matt Beaudoin, who is in the AHL with the Houston Aeros, who are currently leading their opening round series 3-2 against the Peoria Rivermen. Beaudoin scored and assisted on the game-winner in Houston's game five Wednesday. He would not return to Las Vegas unless Houston fell out of the playoffs.

McCulloch makes his mark: Rookie forward Scott McCulloch tallied three assists Wednesday, which brings his point total to six this postseason.

Heavy hitter: Both teams shied away from delivering big hits or throwing punches Wednesday, but defenseman Mike Madill flattened Bakersfield defenseman Tom Morrow with an open ice hip check that brought the crowd to its feet. Nicely done, sir.

Next up: Las Vegas heads to Stockton to face the Thunder at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

Final word: "We've had people question us a little bit throughout the year with our ups and downs, but we knew as a team, it really comes down to the 20-odd guys in the room," Neiszner said. "We play for each other. We went through a few injuries, we went through a lot of call-ups, but hey, that's hockey. There is nothing you can do about the injuries and the call-ups are what we play for. We just battled together. Any seven game series, everyone has to contribute and you can't tell me there isn't a guy on this roster that didn't contribute."

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or [email protected].