Friday, April 11, 2008 | 11:42 p.m.
The Wranglers stumbled out of the postseason gate Friday night in a 4-2 defeat to Stockton to open the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs.
With the loss, Las Vegas also yielded home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Game 2 is Saturday night at 7:05 at the Orleans Arena, then Games 3 and 4 -- and, if necessary, Game 5 -- shift to the Stockton Arena on Sunday, Friday and April 20, respectively.
A lackluster crowd of less than 3,500 watched Las Vegas tie it, 2-2, on a goal by Brandon Kaleniecki halfway through the third period, but that was a gift – the puck caromed off the skate of a Thunder defenseman.
Stockton had scored its first two goals in the final period, and then it added two more on rookie Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande. The third was short-handed, and the fourth was into an empty net.
Stockton goalie Tom Boron played strong all night, stopping 39 of the Wranglers' 41 shots. The Thunder attempted only 22 shots on Lalande.
Las Vegas players had entered the series with 363 total games of playoff experience. Veteran right wing Peter Ferraro, who spent time in the NHL, had 101. Stockton had 204 games of playoff experience.
The winner of the Las Vegas-Stockton series plays the victor in the Alaska-Idaho series in the second round.
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