LAS VEGAS , NV.- After facing elimination and with convincing wins in each of the last two games the Las Vegas Wranglers move on to the Pacific Division final series to face the Stockton Thunder.
In a huge move for the Wranglers they received talented forward Tyler Mosienko back from the AHL just in time for game seven. During the regular season Mosienko notched 48 points in 50 games for Las Vegas.
Goaltender Glenn Fisher proved to be the “go to” guy in goal for Las Vegas in game game six and he pulled out the win with all the pressure on. Fisher had a 1.68 goals against average for the playoffs heading into game seven.
The addition of Mosienko seemed to give Las Vegas some early jump in their step as they controlled much of the first period. They found themselves on an early two-man advantage for 2:26 due to a pair of slashing penalties to Danny Lapointe and Andrew Thomas following a penalty to Dave Bonk earlier. The Wranglers were unable to score until just one second remained on the final penalty. Chris St. Croix finished a tic-tac-toe passing play from Dan Reidel and Shawn Limpwright at 6:01.
The Condors felt they answered back shortly after with an apparent goal but there was a hand pass ruled on the play by=2 0referee Jason Nissen. To make matters worse for the Condors, shortly after the disallowed goal Chris Neiszner made the score 2-0 with a blast over the glove of Yutaka Fukufuji (23 saves on 28 shots) at 10:28 off assists from JD Watt and Scott McCulloch. Fisher (30 saves on 31 shots) held strong in goal for Vegas the rest of the period to hold the lead into the intermission. Shots on goal were in the Wranglers’ favor 12-10 after early domination by Vegas gave way to the Condors showing some signs of life late in the period.
Las Vegas came out strong with the first three shots and just 1:42 into the second period Neiszner fired another puck past the stick of Fukufuji to give the Wranglers a commanding 3-0 lead on assists from Mike Madill and McCulloch. The Condors notched a powerplay goal to give them some hopethe with a blast from Mark Derlago on assists from Chad Painchaud and Jay Langager at 11:32. The Wranglers stole the momentum and the three goal lead right back with a power play goal of their own on a snap shot from Reidel on assists from Dan Spang and Watt at 13:12. The Wranglers took the heart out of the Condors and took a 5-1 lead late in the period on a blast from Spang that Fukufuji never saw, assists on the play went to Neiszner and McCulloch. Vegas clearly dominated in the period with a 12-8 advantage in shots.
The Wranglers shut down the Condors in the final stanza with solid defense and held on for the win as the clock wound out on Bakersfield’s season. Bakersfield had plenty of shots in the final period but they were largely from the perimeter as Vegas packed the slot area. Shots on goal in the third period were in Bakersfield’s favor by a 13-4 margin. At the end of the game the total shots on goal were also in Bakersfield’s advantage by 31-28.
‘Vegas went two for six on the power play while the Condors scored once in six chances.
The Wranglers move on to face the Stockton Thunder who defeated the Ontario Reign in seven games with a 5-4 victory as well. The series will start in Stockton on Friday night due to arena availability. The Wranglers will have home ice advantage for the series and will have the final three games of the series at home.
Contact the author at mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
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