Hockey:

Wranglers lose road game to Grizzlies in Utah

Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 | 11:24 p.m.

More on the Wranglers

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Nearly everything that could have gone wrong did.

The Las Vegas Wranglers tried to play catch up from the opening minute Saturday night, but the Utah Grizzlies maintained a relentless attack to maul the Wranglers 8-3 in front of 3,390 fans at the E-Center.

Utah forward A.J. Perry scored just 67 seconds into the contest to put the Grizzlies on top 1-0.

Ryan Kinasewich scored his first of three goals of the night exactly five minutes later to extend the lead 2-0.

Matt Caria would add another goal to send the Wranglers into the first intermission trailing 3-0.

“It’s about consistency,” said Las Vegas captain Chris Neiszner. “We have to be better. Even tonight with the score the way it was, we had flashes. But it’s not good enough in this league. You have to play 60 minutes to win. We have to do that every game. We have to battle. We can’t just go through the motions.”

Newly acquired forward Francis Lemieux provided a glimmer of hope 6:21 into the second period to slash the deficit to 3-1.

But then the Grizzlies went on a scoring binge, notching five consecutive unanswered goals.

Kinasewich recorded a hat trick, while Perry and James Sixsmith each tallied two goals.

“I think Utah is a good team. They are definitely an offensive team,” Neiszner said. “They are doing the things they want to do, but when we have lapses it’s clear that we have lapses and they are going for the kill. It has to be the other way around. We have to be the ones going in for the kill.”

Trailing 6-1 after two periods, Wranglers head coach Ryan Mougenel benched Michael Ouzas for Joel Gistedt.

Ouzas stopped 18 of 24 shots while Gistedt allowed two goals on four shots.

“It’s not anybody’s fault,” Neiszner said. “It’s a 20-man unit. That’s the thing about hockey. It’s never any one guy’s fault. We have to be better through and through. The situation where the goalie gets pulled is not his fault. We have to give better support for him.”

Lemieux added his second goal of the night and Bernhardt tallied a score in the third period, but by then the game was out of hand.

The Wranglers and Grizzlies will meet three more times next weekend at the E-Center.

Stars of the game: 1. Ryan Kinasewich (3 goals, 2 assists); 2. James Sixsmith (2 goals, 2 assists); 3. A.J. Perry (2 goals, 1 assist)

Kinasewich is king: Utah’s captain tallied five points Saturday night to not only take the ECHL lead in points this season with 27, but he also became the Grizzlies’ franchise all-time leading scorer with 282 career points.

Emotions boil over: Fights broke out all over the ice in the third period as officials handed out four roughing minors and four fighting majors within 15 seconds. Justin Bernhardt and Matt Caria also nearly fought each other from their respective benches before referees regained control of the game.

E-Center comedy: Following Justin Bernhardt’s late third period goal to make the score 8-3, the E-Center played Tom Petty’s song with the line, “Even the losers get lucky sometimes.” Well played E-Center staff, well played.

Roster report: Forwards Kyle Hagel, Josh Prudden, Matt Kang, and Mick Lawrence did not travel to Utah.

Next up: After a few days of what I imagine will be intense practice, the Wranglers head back to Utah to face the Grizzlies at the E-Center on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

Final word: Coach Mougenel declined to comment following the blowout loss.

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By winthorpe

Nov. 15, 2009

12:31 a.m.

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That sounded ugly Steve. Two periods was enough for me. I think it's pretty clear what needs to happen with Kinasewich.

What you've got to do is cut the hamstring on the back of his leg right at the bottom. He'll never play hockey again, because his weight displacement goes back, all his weight is on his right foot, and he'll push everything off to the right. He'll never come through on anything. He'll quit the game.

Well maybe a callup to the AHL would be more practical.
By lvatty

Nov. 15, 2009

7:27 a.m.

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I lost the feed in the second period and couldn't get it back. Thankfully this was after it was 3-1 but before they scored the next batch of goals. Not sure what it is about this Utah team. They obviously aren't as good as we make them because except for us, they don't have a ton of wins. I think for sure the team now has it in their heads that, for whatever reason, Utah has their number which makes it that much harder to compete.

Steve, you had some pretty harsh things to say at times about the goaltending etc. and then coach doesn't comment. How was the bus ride back?
By SteveSilver

Nov. 15, 2009

10:03 a.m.

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one word to sum up the entire trip lvatty...BRUTAL
By BlackCat

Nov. 15, 2009

1:13 p.m.

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Steve: I could not listen last night. Was our defense that bad, or was Utah's offense that good??
By SteveSilver

Nov. 15, 2009

1:49 p.m.

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Hard to say it's one or the other. A great offense can make a defense look bad and a bad defense can make an offense look great.

The Grizzlies have a very potent offense, but the Wranglers defense does not do a good enough job of clearing out guys in front for loose pucks nor do they seem to have a way to disrupt centering passes from the corner.
By Pensfan71

Nov. 15, 2009

2:07 p.m.

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It doesn't appear that Mougenel has much faith in Gistedt. I know it's early in the season, but he has to worry about burning Ouzas out.
By SteveSilver

Nov. 15, 2009

6:18 p.m.

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I agree Pensfan71. Unfortunately we might as well pretend that Ouzas is the only goalie on the roster. Gistedt has some serious problems and unfortunately the Phoenix organization has a lot invested in him.
By DMoney

Nov. 15, 2009

8:30 p.m.

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Regarding Gistedt: He's obviously not going to find much playing time, as we've seen Ouzas play in back-to-back-to-back games. If Phoenix actually believes in him, you would think they would re-assign him somewhere in order to get him ice time. It's possible the Coyotes are riding out his contract and the "bad side" of affiliations means that he's going to clog up our roster. It may be way to early for someone uninformed (like me) to write a player off, but I don't see any signs that the Wranglers or Coyotes have any faith in the kid.
By Decoy

Nov. 16, 2009

12:57 p.m.

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I heard Sebastian Centomo is available...wouldn't mind having him back. The team needs to play better in their own end and figure out how to break out of the zone. They do okay if/when they ever manage to get into the offensive zone and hold onto the puck, but too often they have trouble getting into the zone and then quickly give it up with either a bad shot or, even worse, no shot at all.
By DMoney

Nov. 16, 2009

3:04 p.m.

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I'd kinda like Kevin Nastiuk back.

Of course, I'd also like Marco Peluso, Steve Crampton, Dan Tudin, Sean O'Connor, Aaron Power, Jason Jozsa, Derek Edwardson and Matt Dzieduszycki back as well...and that ain't gonna happen!
By Pensfan71

Nov. 16, 2009

6:15 p.m.

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Centomo is in Grand Rapids on a PTO in the AHL.