Salmon Kings Clipped By Wranglers

Published on December 3, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Las Vegas, NV - In a Thursday night matchup the Victoria Salmon Kings and Las Vegas Wranglers met in the finale of a three-game set at the Orleans Arena. Victoria's Glenn Fisher started in net while Las Vegas countered with Billy Sauer.

Las Vegas was awarded four penalties in the period, as Victoria received three in a period that highlighted special teams play. The Wranglers hit the scoreboard first shorthanded at the 8:52 mark when off a turnover in the neutral zone, Adam Miller skated into the offensive zone on the right wing and dropped a pass back to Ryan Weston who one-timed a hard shot past Fisher's glove. Weston's marker was his second of the season. Miller gave Las Vegas a 2-0 lead at 18:55 on the power play when he finished off a nice give-and-go play with Ned Lukacevic. Miller burst into the offensive zone in the middle of the ice and quickly dished the puck off the left wing to Lukacevic. The Wranglers forward then skated hard to the front of the net and received the puck back on a pass from Lukacevic and tipped the rubber past Fisher's diving glove for his sixth goal of the year. The Wranglers took their 2-0 lead into the first intermission

The Salmon Kings hit the scoreboard six minutes into the second period when Chad Painchaud received a quick cross-crease pass from Andy Brandt and re-directed the puck off the ice and over Sauer. Painchaud's goal was his fifth of the season and cut the Wrangler's lead to 2-1. Las Vegas restored their two-goal lead at 9:45 when a bouncing puck in the crease was flipped high into the air and over the scramble of players and Fisher by Josh Prudden. The 3-1 goal was Prudden's fourth of the campaign. Salmon Kings' defenseman Patrick Coulombe pulled Victoria back within one at the 16:36 mark. Captain Wes Goldie moved the puck behind the net and fed a backhand pass to Coulombe, who placed himself at the top of the crease in front of Sauer and one-timed the puck past the goaltender. Coulombe's goal was his third of the season and sent the Salmon Kings into the second intermission down 3-2.

The Wranglers took a 4-2 lead just 1:37 into the final period when Mick Lawrence made a nice tip from Chris Neiszner past Fisher for his seventh goal of the campaign. The Salmon Kings pulled back within one goal at 2:47 when defenseman Rob Smith sprung Mike Hamilton behind the Wranglers defensemen onto a breakaway. Hamilton made no mistake in beating Sauer over his blocker shoulder for his third goal of the season. Victoria tied the game at the 6:02 mark when a bouncing loose puck came into the slot and found the stick of Randall Gelech, who fired a quick wrist shot past Sauer's glove. Gelech's game-tying goal was his fourth of the campaign. Coulombe gave the Salmon Kings their first lead of the game at 7:30 when he took a back-door feed from Olivier Latendresse to beat Sauer for his second of the game. Lukacevic pulled the Wranglers even at 8:08 when a goal-mouth scramble in front of Fisher resulted in the puck being poked past Fisher by the Wranglers forward for his fifth of the campaign. Miller gave the Wranglers a 6-5 lead at 10:16 when he tipped home a Mike Madill point shot past Fisher for his seventh of the season. Miller added an empty-net goal at 19:59 to complete his hat trick and round out the scoring. Wranglers 7 Salmon Kings 5.

Victoria went 0/5 0.0% on the power play while Las Vegas was 1/5 20.0%. The Salmon Kings outshot the Wranglers 44-31.

The Salmon Kings and Wranglers finish their three-game set tomorrow night in Sin City with puck drop at 7:05 p.m. The Salmon Kings then travel to Ontario to face the Reign on Sunday, December 6th at 5:00 p.m. Victoria returns to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre next week versus the Wranglers for a three-game set with contests on Thursday, December 10th, Friday, December 11th, and Saturday, December 12th. Puck drop for all three games is 7:05 p.m. For tickets, call 250-220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com.

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