LAS VEGAS, Nev – In the first playoff game ever between these long time pacific division rivals the Las Vegas Wranglers overcame an early scare from the hard working Bakersfield Condors to take a 1-0 lead in the division semifinals.
Bakersfield came out of the gate ready to go and stunned the crowd of 3102 at the Orleans arena to silence when Brett Pilkington found the back of the net on a blast past Vegas’ goltender Glenn Fisher (28 saves on 29 shots) just :34 in. Assists went to Chad Painchaud and Andrew Ianiero. Vegas quickly found their playoff legs and stabilized their game after the early setback to even the score on a goal by Kelly Czuy at 6:51 who one timed a nice pass from Dan Reidel to the back of the net past Yutaka Fukufuji (28 saves on 31 shots) of the Condors. Vegas took control 2-1 when Adam Miller scored late in the period off tic-tac-toe assists from Czuy and Reidel. First period shots were 11-10 in the Condors favor.
The Wranglers moved to a 3-1 lead early in the second period on another tic-tac-toe play when Czuy scored again from Reidel and Miller for the line’s third goal of the game. Reidel thought he’d beat Fukufuji past the midpoint of the period but the shot was to have not crossed the goal line by referee Jarrod Ragusin causing loud protests, to no avail, by the Wranglers. Tempers flared late in the period with a fight breaking out between Danny Lapointe from the Condors and Mick Lawerence of the Wranglers. Following that a huge hit on Condor forward Dave Bonk by Jason Dest caused Ryan Huculak to drop the gloves with Dest in retaliation for another pair of fighting majors as time expired in the period. Shots on goal for the period were in favor of the Condors by an 11-10 margin to even it up at 21-21 heading to the final frame.
Fisher made a crucial save on a one timer from the slot by Condor sniper Mark Derlago in the opening seconds of the third period to keep the momentum from shifting early. That save seemed to take the air out of the Condors and the Wranglers were content to run out the clock much of the final period giving the Wranglers a 3-1 victory in game 1.
With three points on 2 goals and an assist Kelly Czuy was clearly the first star of the game.
Las Veags went 0-2 on the powerplay and Bakersfield was 0-5.
Final shots on goal were 31-29 in the Wranglers favor.
The series continues in Las Vegas on Saturday with a 7:30 pm start at the Orleans arena.
Contact mike.canady@prohockeynews.com. Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.