Overtime win puts Wranglers on brink

About a minute after officials waved off an apparent game-winning goal by the Wranglers late in overtime, Adam Cracknell left no doubt Las Vegas was the victor on Friday in Stockton, Calif.

The Wranglers right wing deflected Jason Krischuk's blast from the point into the net with 40 seconds left in overtime to lift Las Vegas to a 4-3 victory over the Thunder, capping its comeback from an early 3-0 deficit and giving it a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 National Conference quarterfinals.

"I got in front of the net, got a piece of my stick on it, and it went in the net. We got the win, and it was exciting for us," said Cracknell, who also had an assist and leads Las Vegas with six playoff points. "We just kept battling, we never gave up, and that's what it takes to win playoffs against a team like this.

"It shows the good character of our team and gives us a good boost going into Sunday."

Las Vegas will try to close the series in Game 5, which will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday at Stockton Arena.

The Wranglers, who went 7-12 in regular-season games that went to overtime, improved to 2-0 in such situations in the playoffs, also winning Game 2 in overtime.

Stockton went 0-for-2 on the power play in regulation and 0-for-3 overtime, and both teams had goals called off with the score tied at 3.

Adam Miller appeared to score for Las Vegas with less than two minutes left in overtime when he buried a rebound in front of the net, but the goal was waved off because the official blew his whistle when he lost sight of the puck.

The Thunder appeared to take a 4-3 lead with 6:09 remaining in regulation when Stephane Goulet scored on a rebound in front of the net, but the officials waved that one off as well, ruling Goulet had kicked the puck past Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande.

Las Vegas, which trailed 3-0 at 1:51 of the second period, rallied for four unanswered goals, scoring the first three in a 9:24 span covering the second and third periods on goals by Aki Seitsonen, Ryan Donally and Kelly Czuy.

Seitsonen scored with 7:52 left in the second period to cut the Wranglers' deficit to 3-1. Donally made it a 3-2 game with 4:34 left in the second on the power play.

Las Vegas, which went 1-for-7 on the power play, tied it 3-3 at 1:32 of the third period when Czuy skated out from behind the net and threw the puck at the net from the goal line. The puck bounced off the back of Thunder goalie Tim Boron's legs into the back of the net.

Boron stopped 48 of 52 shots, and Lalande turned away 36 of 39 attempts.

Jacob Mickflikier and Tim O'Connell netted first-period goals for Stockton, and Geoff Paukovich made it 3-0 early in the second.

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