LAS VEGAS , NV – The Las Vegas Wranglers will advance to the third round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, one step closer to the main event after defeating the Stockton Thunder at the Orleans Arena. Las Vegas won in a big way, with a final score of 5-1. The Wranglers win came before a home crowd of 3,282 and will enable to Wranglers to advance to the third round for the second consecutive season. Meanwhile the Thunder worked hard, but just didn’t show what was necessary to pull out a win tonight and will face a long return trip to Stockton. The Wranglers’ Mick Lawrence opened the scoring at 4:04 into the period with a slap shot which buried the puck past Parker Van Buskirk on a power play. Tyler Mosienko and Dan Spang were each credited with an assist. At 11:26, Mosienko beat Van Buskirk’s blocker side with another power play goal from the top of the circle, putting the Wranglers up 2-0 at the end of the period. Las Vegas dominated the first period action, topping the Thunder with 15-5 shots on goal. Plagued by minor penalties, Stockton could not catch a break. In the second period Las Vegas found even more energy and scored the only goal of the period. Scott McCulloch caught a turn-over and beat Van Buskirk with an unassisted goal at 17:08. Stockton out shot the Wranglers during the period 16-9, but could not get anything past Glenn Fisher who was in goal for Las Vegas. Stockton had six power play chances but were still unable to capitalize on power play opportunities. In the third period Las Vegas’ Chris Neiszer would extend the Wranglers lead to 4-0, with a goal that appeared to take a freak bounce and went past Van Buskirk, at 2:45 in the period. Stockton got on the scoreboard when Cory Urquhart found the net on a backhanded shot at 5:48, assisted by Damian Surma. The score was Urquhart’s tenth goal of the post season, but it would not give the Thunder the momentum they needed to try to catch the Wranglers. Finally at 18:09 while short-handed, the Wranglers scored again when Sean Owens made a goal with the net empty from about 160 feet away. Despite Stockton’s 42-29 led in shots on goal, they were not able to get the forces to swing in their direction. The bad news for them is the loss was there the final game of the year. However the good news is this was the deepest into the play-offs the franchise has ever gone. Las Vegas will advance to the National Conference finals for their second straight season. The Wranglers will face the Alaska Aces, beginning Saturday, May 9th in Alaska at Sullivan Arena.
Contact the writer: shellie.lima@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.