Stockton Downs Vegas, 3-2

April 2, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Las Vegas Wranglers News Release


Las Vegas, Nev- The Las Vegas Wranglers were defeated by the Stockton Thunder Friday night at the Orleans Arena in front of 4,408. Blair Riley and Tyler Mosienko netted the two goals for the Wranglers in their first loss to Stockton this season. Pierre-Andre Bureau, Jarrett Konkle and Bretton Cameron all tallied for the Thunder. Las Vegas had another sub-par showing on the power play as they squandered three 5-on-3 opportunities but did manage to net once with their seven opportunities. The Thunder scored all their goals at even strength as the Wranglers held them back on their three power play chances. Thunder net minder Tyson Sexsmith turned away 31 of the 33 shots he faced as he improved his record to 9-3-3 on the season. Wranglers' goalie Michael Ouzas allowed three goals on the 25 shots he faced as he slides to 20-18-2 on the season. With the win Stockton improves to 36-23-12 with 84 total points as they still have a chance to overtake Bakersfield for the first place spot in the Pacific division if they win tomorrow night and the Condors fall. The loss drops the Wranglers to 38-28-5 with 81 total points as they hold the third spot in the Pacific division and the fourth overall spot in the Western conference. With the loss the playoff picture has become clearer for the Wranglers as they can not improve their seeding for the post season and will face Idaho in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs beginning this Tuesday at home.

Friday night was the first time Las Vegas fell to Stockton the entire season as they slide to a mark of 5-1 with one more meeting between the two clubs. The scrappy play continued over from Wednesday night's meeting as Friday night saw a total of three fights. The scoring began at 16:34 of the first period with Blair Riley's twentieth goal of the season assisted by Ryan Huddy while the Wranglers were on the man-advantage. Riley received a stretch pass from Huddy skated in and beat Sexsmith glove side even though he got a piece of the puck. Las Vegas looked like they were primed to improve their mark to 6-0 against the Thunder this season as they headed to the locker room with the 1-0 lead.

The second period was scoreless until the 19:47 mark when Pierre-Andre Bureau tallied his tenth goal of the season assisted by Jordan Bendfeld. Bureau lifted the loose puck over the blocker of Ouzas after the initial bad angle shot from Bendfeld which would be a glimpse into how Stockton planned on scoring all night. After two periods the game was knotted at one which set the table for an important third period.

The Thunder took the lead on a Wranglers' zone faceoff with Jarrett Konkle's sixteenth goal of the season assisted by Pierre-Andre Bureau at the 6:54 mark of the third period. Bureau won the draw straight towards the net and once again another loose puck found the back of the net when Konkle came in to clean up. Bretton Cameron made it 3-1 for Stockton at the 10:44 mark of the third period assisted by Craig Valette and Steve Vanoosten. Ouzas held the post on the near side as the puck trickled across the crease but as he pushed over to the far side Cameron was there to yet again smash home a loose puck in the blue paint. Las Vegas would cut the deficit to one at the 19:53 mark of the third period with a short-handed goal from Tyler Mosienko assisted by Ryan Huddy but there was not enough time to tie it up. Huddy made a nice saucer pass over the final defenseman to free up Mosienko who redirected the puck over the glove of Sexsmith. The faceoff came back to center ice after the tally but with less than seven seconds remaining the Wranglers were unable to muster a final scoring chance and fell to the Thunder for the first time this season by a final score of 3-2.

The same two clubs battle again tomorrow night to complete the regular season as both teams get ready for the 2011 Kelly Cup playoffs. The puck drops at 7:05PM PST tomorrow night at the Orleans Arena.

The Las Vegas Wranglers® are the ECHL affiliate to the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes and the American Hockey League's San Antonio Rampage.

2010-11 season seat packages are on sale now at (702) 471-PUCK. The Wranglers play all 36 regular season home games at the Orleans Arena, located adjacent to the Orleans Hotel and Casino at 4500 W. Tropicana Avenue.



ECHL Stories from April 2, 2011


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