Fists fly as Wranglers bounce back against Aces in second game of series

By Steve Silver

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 | 1:30 a.m.

After suffering a blowout loss to the Alaska Aces Thursday night, Las Vegas Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel issued a stern challenge to his young squad -- return the next night with a lot of passion or find a new team to play for.

Apparently nobody is ready to leave Las Vegas just yet.

The Wranglers responded to their coach's test with plenty of emotion Friday night as they handed Alaska its first loss of the season 4-3 in a fight-filled evening in front of 3,372 fans at the Orleans Arena.

"All it was, was caring," said Mougenel, who picked up his first career victory as an ECHL head coach. "They cared. They cared for each other… That's why we won, because guys came together. I'm proud of the guys and it's not going to change."

The Wranglers (1-2) banded together on several occasions for pure self-defense reasons as the officials handed out a whopping 43 infractions totaling 157 penalty minutes.

Four players received game misconducts as several multi-fight melees broke out throughout the night, with referees issuing 12 separate fighting majors.

"I think the boys really came together tonight," said Wranglers enforcer Kyle Hagel, who accounted for 14 penalty minutes and two fighting majors. "We were all sticking up for each other and just making sure we wouldn't be pushed around… When you go to bat for each other like that sometimes those are the greasy wins that you get. It was a good one. We knew we had to be more physical."

Even with all of the brutal physicality Friday night, both offenses started out firing on all cylinders.

Alaska (4-1) opened the first period scoring binge on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Aces captain Scott Burt to take a 1-0 lead 11:16 into the game.

Adam Miller answered right back 80 seconds later during a Wranglers power play when he surprised Aces goalie Sebastian Dahm with a quick wrister from the right circle to knot the score 1-1.

The Aces regained a 2-1 lead, though, as Colin Hemingway struck on the power play with 3:58 remaining in the period.

Once again, the Wranglers quickly responded when Andrew Orpik tipped in a Matt Watkins shot just 38 seconds later to head into the first intermission tied 2-2.

The No. 1 forwards line of Orpik, Watkins and Miller totaled two goals and four assists on the night, while leading the team with 15 shots.

"Orpik, Watkins and Miller I thought were unstoppable tonight," Mougenel said. "They had the puck in the offensive zone all night. That is going to be a dominant line because they compete like NHLers. They really do. The way they protect the puck and skate, those are three guys that should be at the next level and if they play like that they will be at the next level."

Las Vegas took control of the contest early in the second period when Jason Krischuk buried a backhand shot to put the Wranglers on top 3-2 just 2:33 seconds into the period.

Josh Prudden capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play six minutes later to extend the Las Vegas lead to 4-2.

The Wranglers power play finished 2-for-7 on the night while the penalty killing unit really stood out by holding the Aces to one power goal on 10 opportunities. Las Vegas also killed off two 5-on-3 disadvantages.

"It was special teams the whole time and it showed a lot of strength in our PK," Krischuk said. "A lot of guys had to play tonight that wouldn't normally play PK because two guys got kicked out so it shortened the bench. It made everyone step their game up and show coach they could play a different position than he probably thought they could."

Despite the plethora of penalties and fights throughout the night, the Wranglers managed to maintain that two-goal lead until late in the third period.

Aces forward John Lammers scored his team-high sixth goal of the night to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 5:30 remaining in the game, but that was as close as Alaska would get.

"We can make this a real good weekend by coming out and showing the same fire we had tonight tomorrow," Mougenel said.

Stars of the game: 1. Adam Miller (1 goal, 2 assists); 2. Andrew Orpik (1 goal, 1 assist); 3. Jason Krischuk (1 goal)

Oozing confidence: The Wranglers edged the Aces 30-29 on shots as Michael Ouzas picked up his first victory of the season with 26 saves.

"Ouzas is a great goalie," Mougenel said. "I'm not making any decisions based on one game, but Michael knows I believe in him. I wouldn't have him here if I didn't. I know he's a great goalie and he knows he's a great goalie. That's the reason why I signed him. He's a competitive person. He might rub his teammates the wrong way with his competitive spirit, but I wish a lot more of them would have the same competitive spirit that Michael Ouzas has."

No more Morehouse: Alaska forward Chris Morehouse received a rather rough exit during a second period melee. First Morehouse took a beating by Chris Frank then as the scrum continued, Justin Bernhardt pulled Morehouse out of the pile to land a few haymakers.

The dazed and battered Morehouse received two fighting majors and a game misconduct along with his teammate, Scott Burt. Bernhardt and Wranglers forward Matt Kang headed to the locker room with a standing ovation as they too received game misconducts and fighting majors at the 7:28 mark of the second period.

Suspensions looming: Although four players were ejected from Friday's game, Mougenel said he would not be surprised if the only player receiving a suspension from the league was Aces forward Matt Stefanishion for a kneeing penalty in the second period.

Stefanishion, who picked up five penalties, tried to wipe out Orpik with the low hit, which brought up memories of when Stefanishion injured Mike Madill in Anchorage last season during the National Conference finals.

"This isn't the first time that we have had to deal with the same guy on one of our players," Mougenel said. "Fortunately Orpik wasn't hurt, but I'll tell you what, Mike Madill was. He was out eight months. I have a tough time with that one. I like (Stefanishion) a lot and he's actually a friend. I've spent a lot of time with Matt and I'm just disappointed in the hit. I thought it was cheap."

Karma struck Stefanishion late in the game, though, when he cost his team a two-minute power play opportunity by taking an elbowing penalty with 2:36 remaining in the contest.

Cool camo: The Wranglers sported camouflaged jerseys for military appreciation weekend. From a distance they just look like white jerseys, but up close the design is actually pretty awesome. Nice work design team.

Next up: The Aces and Wranglers will duke it out one more time in the series' rubber match at 7:05 p.m. today at the Orleans Arena.

Final word: "The only thing I'm going to say is they responded the way I knew they would," Mougenel said. "These guys care for each other and that's what I like."

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