Wranglers maintain dominance at home

By Steve Silver

Published Tuesday, May 5, 2009 | 12:45 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, May 5, 2009 | 3:57 p.m.

The Las Vegas Wranglers had to wait longer than usual to take advantage of their home ice advantage in the Pacific Division finals.

But home ice was extra sweet Monday as the Wranglers crashed the Thunder 4-2 in front of 5,389 fans Monday night at the Orleans Arena to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Despite having to play three of their first four games on the road due to a scheduling conflict at the Orleans Arena, the Wranglers, who are 5-1 at home this postseason, are now just one game away from the National Conference finals.

Stockton, which has yet to win in Las Vegas this season, would have to snag two consecutive victories at the Orleans Arena to eliminate the Wranglers.

"Our confidence is high, but we know we still have three periods we have to win in a row," said Wranglers forward Adam Miller, who notched one goal and an assist Monday. "The series isn't over, but we are happy right now in our spot."

After a scoreless first period, Las Vegas forward J.D. Watt put the Wranglers on the scoreboard first when he buried a cross-ice feed from Mike Hamilton 6:37 into the second period for the 1-0 lead.

Less than four minutes later with Stockton on the power play, Miller shattered the Thunder's spirits when he tipped in a pass from Kelly Czuy for the shorthanded goal and 2-0 lead at the 10:18 mark.

"It was a good play by Kelly Czuy and a good drive to the net by Adam Miller and that was a big goal for us," said Las Vegas coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan. "You see how tight these games are and how even they are. Any little thing helps."

Stockton managed to cut its deficit to 2-1 soon after Miller's goal as Damian Surma punched in a behind-the-net feed from Cory Urquhart at 13:13.

With the game tightening, Stockton's Garet Hunt made a costly mistake as he sucker-punched Las Vegas defenseman Dan Spang following a minor scrum in front of the Wranglers' net.

Hunt drew a roughing penalty and Spang exacted revenge with a power play goal just 25 seconds into the penalty to extend the Wranglers' lead to 3-1.

"It was an exciting goal to get up by two at home," Spang said. "I felt like we really commanded the game after that."

Although the Thunder closed out the second period with another goal by Surma, the Wranglers withstood Stockton's third period surge before Scott McCulloch tallied an empty-netter to seal the 4-2 victory.

Las Vegas goalie Glenn Fisher made 36 saves to improve to 5-1 in the postseason and will most likely start again in Game 6 Tuesday night as Gulutzan has so far stuck to his plan to use Fisher at home and John DeCaro on the road.

"Fisher made a big save for us with about five minutes left and we needed that," Gulutzan said. "They had a good push in the third. I thought we needed to be a bit better in the third… (Fisher) has played well at home and he's made some big stops."

Stars of the game: 1. Glenn Fisher (36 saves); 2. Dan Spang (1 goal, 1 assist); 3. Kelly Czuy (1 assist)

Amped up power play: After dwelling in the cellar of the ECHL all season, Las Vegas' power play is now the best in the league with a 23.2 percent success rate (13-of-56).

Since returning from the AHL, Spang has played an integral role in that unit's transformation.

"(Spang) has been awesome back there," Miller said. "He's making everyone better. He's passing the puck, he's shooting, and he's communicating what he wants to do. It's nice having a quarterback up there like Peyton Manning. We are confident with him up there and we are glad he's our quarterback of the power play."

Spang, who has notched three power play goals this postseason, is second among all ECHL defensemen in the playoffs with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists).

"He's a borderline NHL defenseman," Gulutzan said. "He's a guy in the right organization that you could see him in the likes of (Tyler) Sloan or (Tyson) Strachan."

Potent line: Miller (4 goals, 9 assists) and Dan Riedel (6 goals, 7 assists) lead the Wranglers in postseason points with 13 each. Their linemate, Czuy, has 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists).

Hunt Hunting: Miller did not take too kindly to Hunt's sucker punch of Spang in the second period and Miller had a few choice words for Hunt following Monday's contest.

"That's a clown move on Hunt's part," Miller said. "I was right out there with him. (Hunt) looks at the ref and just suckers (Spang) then goes down like a coward. We're not going to worry about that little twerp. He's not good. So we're just going to leave him alone. He's just a little rat out there and he tries to stir up stuff. We just ignore him and hopefully we get the big 'W' and shake that rat's hand tomorrow."

UPDATE: The ECHL fined Hunt Tuesday for the incident.

Roster report: Hugo Carpentier returned to the lineup Monday after missing the last eight games with a concussion. He was held without a shot or a point, though.

The Wranglers also officially placed defenseman Chris St. Croix on the injured reserve list. He will not return in this series, but fellow blue liners Brandon Straub and Bret Tyler are eligible to come off the IR.

Extra Wattage: In addition to scoring the opening goal, Watt threw his body around like a wrecking ball Monday and was involved in the game's two biggest hits. Toward the end of the first period Watt caught Stockton center Damian Surma streaking across the blue line with his head down and Watt made him pay. The Thunder had their revenge, though, when defenseman Ryan Constant flattened Watt with a late hit after the buzzer had already sounded to end the second period.

Flip out: Stockton coach Matt Thomas went Bobby Knight on the officiating crew outside its locker room following the game. Thomas launched a profanity-laced tirade at the refs that included several challenges to fight. That's always a good sign the night before facing elimination… right?

Next up: The Wranglers can finish off the Thunder and advance to the National Conference finals with a victory at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Orleans Arena.

Final word: "We definitely want to finish them while we can," Miller said. "Tomorrow is our opportunity. If we have another big crowd like we did today, that's really nice having the sixth man on our side. The crowd was good and we are going to push tomorrow."

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or [email protected].