Wranglers blow lead; Bakersfield ties series

Leading 2-0 after the first period Saturday, the Wranglers appeared poised to take a 2-0 lead in their ECHL Pacific Division semifinal against Bakersfield.

But the Condors stormed back with two goals in the second period to tie it, and Mark Derlago scored the game winner with 1:36 to play to lift Bakersfield to a 3-2 victory at the Orleans Arena, tying the best-of-7 series at a game apiece.

The next three games of the series will be at Bakersfield, Calif., with Game 3 scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday.

"We've got to get points on the road," Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We're not going anywhere in the playoffs unless we win in somebody else's building."

The Condors' top line of Derlago, Dave Bonk and Chad Painchaud combined for all three goals and five assists, with Derlago netting the tying and winning goals.

Ryan Mahrle and Painchaud helped set up the winner, with Mahrle firing a shot from the left point that caromed off the back wall to the front of the net. Painchaud controlled the puck and dished a quick pass in front to Derlago, who punched it past Wranglers goaltender Glenn Fisher (32 saves).

Derlago had tied the game 2-2 at 6:41 of the second period when he poked a rebound in the slot past Fisher, who was sprawled on the ice.

Painchaud, who had a goal and two assists, fired a shot on net from the slot that Fisher dived to stop. But when he couldn't cover the puck, Derlago swooped in and buried it.

"We made two mistakes against their top line, and they scored twice. That was the difference," Gulutzan said.

Sean Owens scored 8:27 into the game to give Las Vegas a 1-0 lead, and Dan Riedel made it 2-0 with 4:59 left in a period controlled by the Wranglers.

Las Vegas appeared to expand its lead to 3-0 in the first minute of the second period, when a Bakersfield player inadvertently kicked the puck into his net on a Wranglers power play. But the officials waved off the goal, ruling the whistle had blown.

"It should've been a goal. The ref blew the whistle too early. He said he lost sight of it, but that's what happens," Gulutzan said. "A 3-0 lead would've been a little harder to come back from than 2-0, but we've got to play through that. That stuff's going to happen in the playoffs."

The Condors seemed to feed off the reprieve, scoring two goals in a span of 2:44 to tie the game at 2-all.

Painchaud scored at 3:57 to close the gap to 2-1. Derlago set up the play, skating from the goal line to the net before dishing a cross-crease pass to Painchaud, who punched it into the net from point-blank range.

The Wranglers outshot the Condors 39-35 and finished 0-for-4 on their league-worst power play. Bakersfield goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji made 37 saves.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.