Wranglers Hold Off RoadRunners 2-1

March 16, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Arphad Mihaly tallied a goal and added an assist and the Las Vegas Wranglers staved off a furious comeback in the final minutes of regulation to defeat the Phoenix RoadRunners 2-1 before a crowd of 5,729 at the Orleans Arena in ECHL action Friday.

After a mostly scoreless first period, Las Vegas (36-12-14) struck first as Derek Edwardson buried Mihaly's rebound behind RoadRunners goalie Cody Rudkowsky at 18:05 to give the Wranglers a 1-0 lead.

That looked as if it would be the only goal of the night until Mihaly scored from just inside the right-wing circle banging a shot off the crossbar and in at 6:23 of the third period to extend the Wranglers advantage to 2-0. The RoadRunners (25-33-5) got some life late as on the penalty kill, Justin Aikins received a perfect lead pass behind the defense from Matt Smyth and beat Wranglers goalie Kevin Nastiuk to the blocker side at 17:56 shorthanded. Despite killing off the remainder of the power play and pulling Rudkowsky for the extra attacker, the RoadRunners could not tally the equalizer.

Las Vegas out-shot Phoenix 35-25. Rudkowsky stopped 33 but took the loss to fall to 8-16-2 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-6 on the power play while Las Vegas was 0-6 with the man-advantage.

Notes: Aikins' shorthanded goal was his third of the season and the RoadRunners' 10th overall...Phoenix allowed the first goal for the 40th time this year. They are 10-26-4 when they do not score first...Despite the loss, the RoadRunners maintained a six point lead over the Utah Grizzlies for the #8 seed in the National Conference playoff race as Utah was idle, and reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to 17 as the Long Beach Ice Dogs fell 4-2 to Bakersfield.



ECHL Stories from March 16, 2007


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