LAS VEGAS – Able to break a first-goal streak, but unable to tally enough goals for the win, the Las Vegas Wranglers fell 6-4 to the Alaska Aces tonight, securing the three-game sweep for the road team.
Coming into the game, the Wranglers were the lone team in the ECHL to not have scored the first goal of a game. That streak was broken when center Scott Campbell lit the light for Las Vegas on a power play midway through the first, giving the team a 1-0 lead. A shorthanded goal from Aces center Nate Thompson tied the game with 15 seconds left in the period, and a goal from forward Nick Mazzolini 3:25 into the second gave Alaska their first lead of the night. Less than two minutes later, at the 5:20 mark, Wranglers forward Andrew Sarauer tallied his first goal of the season to once again knot the game 2-2.
In the last four minutes of the second, Alaska kicked off a scoring burst on a power play goal from defenseman William Wrenn. Aces forward Tommy Mele made it a 4-2 game for Alaska 44 seconds later, and the team added a second goal from Mazzolini to end the period up 5-2 over the Wranglers. Midway through the final period, Mele recorded his second goal of the night to put Alaska up 6-2 over Las Vegas, but a power play goal from Wranglers center Eric Lampe and a literal last-minute goal from Wranglers defenseman Jamie Fritsch cut the lead to 6-4. Unable to salvage two more goals, the Aces skated with the 6-4 win and the three-game sweep of the Wranglers.
The Wranglers spend the next two weekends on the road, first facing the Bakersfield Condors on Nov. 15 and 16, and the Idaho Steelheads after the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 23 and 24. The team then returns home to play the San Francisco Bulls and Orlando Solar Bears for the first times this season on Nov. 29 – Dec. 1.
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