Wranglers Take Rubber Match from Jackals, 6-3

Published on February 9, 2011 under ECHL (ECHL)
Las Vegas Wranglers News Release


Las Vegas, Nev- The Las Vegas Wranglers defeated the Elmira Jackals Tuesday night at the Orleans Arena for the second time in history. Las Vegas improves its all-time record to 2-1 against Elmira who met for their first three-game set over the last five days. The Wranglers had not seen an Eastern Conference team since they faced the Cincinnati Cyclones in the Kelly Cup Finals three seasons ago. With the win Las Vegas improves to 30-14-3 as they now hold a ten-point cushion over the Stockton Thunder for first place in the Pacific division. The Jackals now head to Ontario riding a two-game losing skid as they fall to 20-20-5 and hold the second spot in the Atlantic division. Greg Collins led they way for Las Vegas with two goals and an assist in the win. Chris Higgins also scored twice for Las Vegas while Tyler Mosienko and Dan Bertram notched one goal a piece. Ryan Huddy, Blair Riley, and Jamie Fritsch all had two assists for the Wranglers as well. Michael Dubuc tallied for the Jackals in the loss while Eric Lampe notched the other two goals. Las Vegas tallied another two power play goals which they had done in the two previous games as well against the Jackals. Elmira went 1-3 on the power play which is identical to their two previous games against Las Vegas as well. The Wranglers were able to complete the specials teams' tri-fecta when Chris Higgins hit the empty net after Vegas had already scored on the power play and on the penalty kill. Joe Fallon earns his second consecutive win after beating Elmira on Saturday night and improves his record to 18-8-1 tuning away 28 of 31. Garrett Zemlak tallies back-to-back losses in Las Vegas allowing five goals on 23 shots as he falls to 5-9-3 on the season and 1-2 for Elmira.

Las Vegas kept the momentum running from Saturday night's late comeback into Tuesday night's rubber match. Chris Higgins put Vegas up early at the 2:19 mark of the first period with his sixth goal of the season assisted by Tyler Mosienko and Ryan Huddy. Elmira tied the game at 5:48 of the first period with Eric Lampe's eleventh goal of the season assisted by Ryan Hillier. Greg Collins made it 2-1 at the 9:00 mark of the first period with his first goal of the night assisted by Jamie Fritsch and Geoff Paukovich while the Wranglers were on the penalty kill. The Wranglers took the one-goal lead into the first intermission as they outshot Elmira 9-8 in the first period.

Las Vegas came back from the first intermission with the first three goals of the second frame. Greg Collins tallied his second goal of the night and his fifteenth of the season at 1:31 of the second period assisted by Nick Ross and Blair Riley while the Wranglers were on the power play. Dan Bertram made the score 4-1 at the 5:01 mark of the second period assisted by Jamie Fritsch and Colin Long. The Wranglers went up by four at 9:00 of the second period while on the power play with Tyler Mosienko's ninth goal of the season assisted by Ryan Huddy and Blair Riley. Elmira would cut back into the lead with the final two tallies of the second period. Michael Dubuc notched his thirteenth goal of the season at 11:01 of the second period assisted by Justin Donati and Matt Hoffman while Elmira was on the power play to cut the deficit to three. Eric Lampe skated coast-to-coast unassisted at 14:14 of the second period and beat Joe Fallon five-hole while the Jackals were on the kill to make the score 5-3 as both teams headed into the second intermission.

The third period saw only one goal as the Wranglers were content with protecting their two-goal lead. Elmira took 13 shots in the final frame while Las Vegas only took five, but with an empty Jackals' net Chris Higgins was able to tally his second of the night and his seventh of the season at 19:19 assisted by Greg Collins lifting Las Vegas to a 6-3 win over Elmira.

The Wranglers get ready to host Utah on Thursday night before Victoria heads to town for games on Friday and Sunday.

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.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from February 9, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central