Grizzlies blow out Wranglers in record-setting fashion

Special to the Sun / Stephen R. Sylvanie

Wranglers goaltender Joel Gistedt is helpless to stop Utah winger Jason Dale from scoring the 9th Grizzlies goal of the contest at the Orleans Arena on Thursday night.

By Steve Silver (contact)

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | 1 a.m.

Utah slams Wranglers 9-2

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It was the stuff nightmares are made of.

The red goal light blazing every few minutes, a young goalie desperately searching for relief, and a downtrodden home crowd streaming for the exits by the second period.

Within minutes of the opening whistle Thursday night, the Las Vegas Wranglers found themselves in a multi-goal hole that soon sunk into a crater as the Utah Grizzlies slammed the Wranglers 9-2 at the Orleans Arena for the worst home loss in franchise history.

No team has ever scored nine goals against the Wranglers at the Orleans Arena in the franchise's seven-year existence.

"I'm embarrassed for us and I'm apologetic to the fans," said Wranglers head coach and general manager Ryan Mougenel. "It's unacceptable. It's immature. It's just not playing our system of hockey. The reality is there are a lot of people barking to come play in Las Vegas. This is the place to play. And if you don't commit yourself you are going to be on the outside."

The Wranglers' night went from bad to worse in a hurry as the Grizzlies scored three goals on their first four shots against Joel Gistedt to take a 3-0 lead less than seven minutes into the contest.

Utah forward Evan Kotsopoulus opened the scoring binge with a blistering power play slap shot from the left circle for the 1-0 lead just 2:24 into the game. Then James Sixsmith and Ryan Kinasewich each buried goals within the next four minutes for the 3-0 advantage.

Las Vegas forward Andrew Orpik tried to spark a rally when he scored off of his own rebound at the 7:43 mark.

But less than four minutes later, Dylan Hunter notched a power goal to send the Grizzlies into the first intermission with a 4-0 lead.

"A couple goals of the hop just kind of deflated us and we didn't respond," Mougenel said. "That's a sign of an immature team. We have to get better."

The Wranglers could not stop the bleeding in the second period either as the Grizzlies scored four more unanswered goals.

Utah defenseman Victory Bartley was left all alone to burn Gistedt from the left circle just 30 seconds into the period to go on top 5-1.

Kinasewich and Hunter each added their second goals of the night within the next nine minutes before Matt Caria joined in the scoring action at the 16:25 mark of the second period to take an 8-1 lead against a lethargic Wranglers squad on another power play goal.

"We know we can play and we have to play a lot more intense than that," Las Vegas center Chris Neiszner said. "Tonight we did not bring the intensity. There are no excuses for your intensity level. That is something you can control all night, every night. We have to be more intense right from the start."

The Grizzlies went 3-for-6 on the power play while the Wranglers were a miserly 0-for-6 with an advantage.

The Wranglers' penalty-killing unit is now the worst in the ECHL with a 69.5 percent (11-of-36) success rate.

"I thought our (defense) was beyond soft," Mougenel said.

Utah inflicted their last damage early in the third period when Jason Dale poked in his own rebound for the 9-1 lead.

Mick Lawrence scored midway through the third period to slash the deficit to 9-2, but that was as close as the Wranglers would come.

Although the Wranglers edged the Grizzlies 35-34 in total shots, Utah obviously found many ways to slip the puck past Gistedt.

Gistedt, (0-2), the Phoenix Coyotes' No. 36 overall draft pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, has now allowed 14 goals on 63 shots for a .778 save percentage and a 6.84 goals against average.

Unfortunately, Mougenel had no way to relieve Gistedt Thursday since Michael Ouzas was out with a one-game suspension for defending himself against the Alaskan net crashers on Saturday night.

Mougenel's back-up on the bench, Mike Katz, could only take the ice in the event of an emergency or else the team would face a hefty fine.

"(Gistedt's) on an NHL contract," Mougenel said. "(Phoenix) signed him with the intention that was going to play in the NHL. Can he play in the NHL? Yes he can. He has potential. You have to understand the kid has played really well. I've seen him play extremely well. He's fighting it and he's fighting it early in the season. He's going to work his way out of it. And he has to. There are two ways he can go. You can progress from it or you can digress. He's a kid that needs to go forward. How does he get there? He has to battle through it."

Stars of the game: 1. Matt Caria (1 goal, 4 assists); 2. Dylan Hunter (2 goals, 1 assist); 3. Ryan Kinasewich (2 goals, 1 assist)

Assist machine: Defenseman Robbie Bina's assist of Mick Lawrence's third period goal was his team-leading sixth of the season. Those six points also lead the team. Josh Prudden, Ned Lukacevic and Adam Miller each have five points.

Heavy hitter: Thursday's game was in the books so early that there was not much of a fighting spirit left by the third period. Yet Wranglers defenseman Chris Frank did manage to land a massive hit on Utah forward James Sixsmith in the final period. Unfortunately that led to an interference penalty on Frank and a Grizzlies goal shortly thereafter.

Next up: The Wranglers (2-3) hit the road to face the Ontario Reign (2-3) at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Final word: "We are young and we are going to go through growing pains," Mougenel said. "Mistakes are going to happen, but repeated mistakes can't. They can't. That's my fault and I'm man enough to admit it. I didn't get them ready. It was me -- Ryan Mougenel. That team is going to come out and be on fire tomorrow because they have a ton of pride and I have a ton pride."

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

Discussion: 16 comments so far…

By winthorpe

10/30/09 at 1:25 a.m.

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I will put this in perspective. Sometimes (gasp!!!), I suck at my job and if any of you people don't, god bless you - you are better than all of us!!! Call me crazy, but I still had fun Thursday night, but I did want to see Steve put the pads on and play goal. It's a long, long, season, so everyone - chill.
By vegas_baby_vegas

10/30/09 at 2:07 a.m.

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This year's team is young and still coming together it showed in the game... For some reason the whole team looked tired on the ice. The coach and players have not made any excuses when talking after a loss and have said what they think they can do better for the next game. With that type of attitude I really think this team will get better as the season continues.
By BlackCat

10/30/09 at 2:26 a.m.

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Could the defense have been any worse? It would not have mattered who was in goal.
By jnordahl

10/30/09 at 9:37 a.m.

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Three goals on the first four shots? An 8-1 deficit after two periods? Sure sounds like an emergency to me. Maybe the ECHL should change that rule. . .
By TheDuke

10/30/09 at 10:24 a.m.

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I agree with winthorpe. There is still a lot of hockey yet to be played. The team had an off night, but if you think there will be a repeat perfomance tonight, (in my opinion) you are sadly mistaken. I am happy to be part of this team & I still see a strong season in our future. Go Wranglers & I'll see all of you on Thursday.
By SteveSilver (Staff)

10/30/09 at 10:32 a.m.

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No worries on this end. Best thing for this team is to be able to play a game tonight rather than sit and ponder last night's loss.

I'm packing for Ontario now. Tune in to the broadcast on either lasvegaswranglers.com or the B2 network.

I'll be posting my usual stories too once I wrap the broadcasts.
By ganga

10/30/09 at 11:17 a.m.

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Gistedt has got to go! Glad it was dollar beer night or I may have left earlier. Glad the Ouzas suspension is over. Man I miss the days of Mags or McKenna. Good thing we all make the playoffs (only 8 teams in west). Sounds like a perfect year to treat the season like pre-season and experiment.
By ganga

10/30/09 at 11:21 a.m.

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Oh, was it last year or the year before that Gully decided to forget the fine and put the e-bug in net when we went down by 4 goals?
By winthorpe

10/30/09 at 11:38 a.m.

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I was over it by 7:30 PM last night, lol. The beers were still good and I have great friends to enjoy the games with no matter what the score. When the game gets lopsided there is always people and Duke watching. (Nice costume by the way Duke). I stopped getting upset about my home team losing before my 21st birthday.

It was fugly to be sure and I would have liked to seen Todd Dewey in goal with no equipment for hijacking two of Steve's articles. I will be listening tonight Steve. Shout outs (cough, cough).

Let's plan some meet and greets amoung us next week folks.
By sec111s10

10/30/09 at 12:05 p.m.

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I've been to three of the five home games this year (all losses), and I've seen the Wranglers play a total of one good period (1st period, game one). They've been outscored in those games 19-7, and their defensive play has been non-existant, tons of odd-man breaks and players out of position.

Young Mr. Gistedt had a rough game last night, but he didn't have a lot of help from his "D". Can anybody clear an opponent out of the slot, or tie up a stick on a rebound? The score could have been much worse than it was, he did make several nice saves that got lost in the shuffle.

Maybe this little road trip will be helpful, because right now this team is pretty bad.
By Randolf

10/30/09 at 12:33 p.m.

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Wow what a beat down that was last night. Never have I seen the Wranglers play so poorly and I've been a season ticket holder since day 1. sec111 is right the defense has been horrible. Utah was walking in on Gistedt all night and it was a shooting gallery.

On the bright side I though Orpik played a strong game. That is about all I have to say about that.

Let's hope things turn around on the road.
By lvshooter

10/30/09 at 2:10 p.m.

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Definitely painful to see, especially the fact that the game was truly over before the halfway mark. But, better to get this one out of the system now than later on when it matters more. This is all about growing pains, and a group of guys who are still learning to gel together. No worries....Have fun in Ontario, Steve. I look forward to shooting many road games this year...
By lvwranglersfan

10/30/09 at 2:12 p.m.

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Ganga,
Only 7 of the 8 teams make the playoffs this year. The first place team gets a bye and 2 plays 7 and so forth with the first round being best of 5.
By SteveSilver (Staff)

10/30/09 at 3:59 p.m.

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I was just about to post that lvwranglersfan...we just pulled up to the hotel in Ontario. Heading to the arena in a bit for what I imagine will be a much different performance than last night
By winthorpe

10/30/09 at 7:41 p.m.

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I didn't know you were doing play by play. Thought you were color guy. I'm impressed. Now I definately want shout outs.
By SteveSilver (Staff)

10/31/09 at 1:06 a.m.

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yea winthorpe I'm all alone in the broadcast booth this year

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