Reign edge Wranglers in shootout

By Steve Silver

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 | 12:45 a.m.

The Las Vegas Wranglers closed out the preseason with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Ontario Reign Saturday night in front of 500 fans at the Center Ice Arena.

Ontario's final shooter, Chad Starling, was the difference-maker as he was the only player to score in the shootout.

Las Vegas' Mick Lawrence, Sean Hurley, Matt Kang, Ned Lukacevic and Jason Krischuk all failed to slip one past Ontario goalie Mike Zacharias as Zacharias earned the victory with 25 saves on the night.

Similar to Thursday night's preseason opener, the Wranglers fell into a 1-0 hole early as Dwight King capitalized on a costly turnover less than five minutes into the contest.

The Wranglers answered, though, when Adam Miller buried a 5-on-3 power play goal at the 8:31 mark of the first period.

Las Vegas scored twice on 11 power play chances Friday but also allowed two shorthanded goals.

One of those shorthanded goals came at the beginning of the second period as Mike Howe fired a wrist shot past Joel Gistedt to give Ontario a 2-1 lead.

Neither team scored for the remainder of the second period.

In the third, Kang tied the game 2-2 at the 2:40 mark, but the Reign struck again while shorthanded as Jon Rheault scored on a breakaway.

On that same power play, though, Matt Whitehead tied the game with a blistering shot from the right circle, which ultimately forced overtime.

Ontario out-shot the Wranglers 32-28.

The Wranglers return home for a week of practice and final roster cuts before opening the regular season against the Utah Grizzlies at 7:05 p.m. on Friday at the Orleans Arena.

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or steve.silver@lasvegassun.com.