Wranglers suffer 4-3 overtime loss to Alaska Aces

By Anthony Fenech

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010 | 12:19 a.m.

Down a goal heading into the third period, the Alaska Aces scored two unanswered goals Friday to beat the Las Vegas Wranglers, 4-3, in overtime.

T.J. Fast’s ninth goal of the season with just over a minute remaining in the extra period gave the Aces their third straight win over the Wranglers.

“I though the guys played really well,” head coach Ryan Mougenel said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the two points, but we managed to get a point and I thought the guys played well and battled hard for each other.”

Las Vegas held two leads in the game.

Captain Chris Neiszner opened the scoring and Adam Miller scored his 16th goal of the season with 18 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Wranglers a final-frame lead.

Aces defenseman Bryan Miller pushed the puck past goaltender Jimmy Spratt at the 13:31 mark of the second period to tie the score and send the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, Alaska earned the extra point on Fast’s goal, assisted by Eric Boguniecki and Judd Blackwater.

“It’s not a victory; it’s an overtime loss,” Mougenel said. “We’ll take the positives from it and I liked how we competed, but there’s still some things we need to shore up.”

In his second game for the Wranglers and the first since shutting out Bakersfield in his ECHL debut last Saturday, Spratt stopped 33 of 37 shots.

“He played solid, real well,” Mougenel said. “He made the saves he needed to make.”

Mougenel said Spratt would start in the second game of the series Saturday night.

The Wranglers were 1-2 on the power play, their tally coming on Ned Lukacevic’s 22nd goal of the season, a second-period goal from Alex Bourret and Miller.

Bourret recorded three assists on the night.

Newcomer Mat Deschamps, acquired this week, made his Wranglers debut in the loss and recorded one shot.

The overtime loss increases the Wranglers (21-23-6) points-streak to three games, and they have recorded at least one point in three of their past four games, as they try to distance themselves from fourth-place Ontario in the Pacific division.

“We played well. We just need a better effort from everyone across the board,” Mougenel said. “The guys are anxious to get back at them tomorrow.”