Aces continue to stymie Wranglers in playoffs

By Steve Silver

Monday, May 11, 2009 | 1:15 a.m.

After traveling nearly 4,500 miles to Anchorage for the first two games of the National Conference finals, the Las Vegas Wranglers are returning home with nothing but bruises, frustration and a two-game deficit.

For the second consecutive night, Las Vegas had no answer for Alaska as the Aces steamrolled the Wranglers 4-1 in front of 4,595 fans at Sullivan Arena Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Alaska is now 6-0 at home in the playoffs. Fortunately for the Wranglers, the Aces now have to play their next three games at the Orleans Arena.

"It's always good to come home," said Las Vegas forward Kelly Czuy. "You always have an advantage at home. We just need to come out hard, play well and play disciplined and I think we can beat these guys."

The Wranglers lacked those qualities Sunday night, however, as the Aces captured an early lead during the first power play of the game.

Less than one minute after Mick Lawrence took a seat in the penalty box due to a roughing penalty, the Aces' Lance Galbraith poked in a rebound off Glenn Fisher for the 1-0 lead just 2:53 into the game. The Aces are now 8-1 when scoring first in the playoffs.

Alaska extended its lead to 2-0 at the 10:44 mark of the first period when Luke Erikson scored a strange goal by batting the puck off a faceoff into the air and seemingly into Fisher's glove. Somehow the puck fell out of Fisher's glove and bounced into the net.

With only six shots on goal in the first period, the Wranglers struggled once again to put any pressure on Alaska goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux in the second period.

"Alaska is a great team defensively and they have great defenseman," Czuy said. "It's not easy to get a lot of shots on goal, so we're just going to have to bear down and get the pucks on net."

The Aces outshot the Wranglers 22-12 in the first two periods while extending their lead to 3-0, thanks to another rebound tip-in, this time by Alexandre Imbeault 12:13 into the second period.

Imbeault's goal spelled the end of the night for Fisher as John DeCaro entered the game in relief as Fisher allowed those three goals on 19 shots.

DeCaro stopped the bleeding momentarily before Vladimir Novak buried a feed from Scott Burt to put the Aces on top 4-0 early in the third period.

As the game slipped out of reach, it also turned ugly.

Shortly after Novak's goal, a massive brawl erupted when Cam Keith and Josh Soares took offense to Tyler Mosienko running into Lamoureux behind the net. Five players ended up with penalties and Las Vegas defenseman Steve Makway received a game misconduct.

Another scrum broke out following the final buzzer as a result of a sucker punch by Matt Stefanishion on J.D. Watt.

By the end of the night, the referees had dished out 32 penalties totaling 95 minutes.

"These guys bring intensity and so do we," Sean Owens said. "I wouldn't expect anything less in this series. We've had that all year and in seasons past. It's a rivalry with these guys. It's good playoff hockey."

Las Vegas defenseman Dan Spang scored the lone Wranglers goal while shorthanded at the 12:55 mark to spoil Lamoureux's shutout bid. Lamoureux is now 10-1 with a 1.66 goals against average and a .946 save percentage.

Stars of the game: 1. Luke Erickson (1 goal, 1 assist); 2. Scott Burt (1 assist); 3. Alexandre Imbeault (1 goal, 1 assist)

Dwindling defensemen: Mike Madill, who suffered an undisclosed lower body injury as the result of a hit by Cam Keith late in Game 1 on Saturday, did not play Sunday and most likely will not return for the rest of the playoffs.

The Wranglers will not know a definitive timetable for Madill's return until the team's medical staff examines him in Las Vegas on Monday.

Madill had four points and 12 penalty minutes in 13 postseason games. He now joins fellow blue liners Chris St. Croix and Bret Tyler on the injured reserve, which leaves the Wranglers with just five healthy defensemen. Brandon Straub, who is not really at 100 percent, did manage to play Sunday.

"Everyone else has a chance to elevate their game," Owens said. "Guys need to step up. We are missing a couple of guys and it gives everyone else a chance to step up and take advantage of maybe being in a position they normally wouldn't be in. Everyone just needs to grab the bull by the horns and go with it."

Powerless play: Despite entering the National Conference finals with the ECHL's best power play unit (25.4 percent), the Wranglers are now 0-for-11 on the power play through the first two games of the series. Las Vegas' power play is still tied with South Carolina for the league lead, though, at 21.6 percent (16-of-74).

"I think we got away from what we've been doing," Owens said. "It's not really anything that they are doing. I think we just need to get back to that and we'll be fine."

White out: The Wranglers want all fans to wear white to the remaining home games, starting on Tuesday night for Game 3 at the Orleans Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Final word: "We need to stay out of the penalty box," Czuy said. "It's a seven-game series, so we just have to do the little things right and battle hard."

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