Wranglers open division finals in disappointing fashion

By Steve Silver

Friday, April 24, 2009 | 11:39 p.m.

The Las Vegas Wranglers are suffering from a case of déjà vu in this year's Kelly Cup playoffs.

For the fifth time in eight postseason games the Wranglers squandered a two-goal lead as the Stockton Thunder opened the Pacific Division finals with a 4-3 victory in front of 4,398 fans at Stockton Arena Friday night.

"We have to be more consistent for 60 minutes," said Las Vegas coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan. "You can never dwell on losses. It was a tough game. We could have easily won this game, but we didn't, so now we have to go get one at home."

Mike Hamilton and Justin Taylor scored nearly two minutes apart to open Game 1 of the series as the Wranglers jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the 6:06 mark.

But less than four minutes later Stockton went on a scoring spree. Cory Urquhart, Ryan Huddy and Robbie Bina each tallied goals within a span of 2:49 to capture a 3-2 lead with 7:49 remaining in the first period.

Bina's lead-changing goal came just 41 seconds into the Thunder's first power play due to a slashing call on Kelly Czuy.

"We have to learn how to play with that lead," Wranglers forward Adam Miller said. "Stockton got some bounces their way. It wasn't really our goalie's fault. They just got bounces and they came at us."

Lucky bounces or not, after watching his team's lead vanish thanks to Stockton's three goal binge in less than three minutes, Gulutzan benched goalie Glenn Fisher for John DeCaro.

Fisher allowed three goals on just eight shots in his 12:11 of ice time.

"I thought they had a lot of momentum, so I made a goalie change," Gulutzan said. "I wanted to slow the game down and regroup and it worked out for a while there."

With a new netminder, the Wranglers tightened defensively for the remainder of the first period.

Then less than three minutes into the second period, Adam Miller scored his second goal of the postseason when he tipped in a Sean Owens shot to tie the game 3-3.

Las Vegas outshot Stockton 14-6 in the second period, but could not score again.

The Thunder then stormed into the third period with Urquhart's second of the night at 4:02 to take a 4-3 lead. Urquhart has scored eight goals in eight playoff games this season.

Although the Wranglers created several solid scoring chances late in the final period, they couldn't find the back of the net, thanks to 35-save effort by rookie goalie Parker Van Buskirk.

Van Buskirk is now 4-1 with a .894 save percentage in the postseason.

"We have to go upstairs with him," Miller said. "He's good with his stick. He's good with his feet, he moves side to side well. We just have to go upstairs and create traffic in front of him."

The Wranglers return to the Orleans Arena for Game 2 against the Thunder at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Stars of the game: 1. Parker Van Buskirk (35 saves); 2. Cory Urquhart (2 goals); 3. Ryan Huddy (1 goal, 2 assists)

Roster report: Defensemen Brandon Straub and Bret Tyler as well as forward Hugo Carpentier remained inactive Friday. Forward Mick Lawrence, who notched only one point in five games in the Bakersfield series, also wasn't in uniform. Instead, he donned a headset in the broadcast booth alongside Wranglers media guru Josh Fisher.

Final word: "It's a seven game series, so we can't really have our heads down," Miller said. "We're coming home and we like our chances."

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