Cyclones drop Wranglers, hoist Cup

CINCINNATI -- For the third straight season and fourth time in their five years in Las Vegas, the Wranglers were eliminated from the playoffs by the ECHL champion.

This season's loss stings more than the others, though, because it occurred in the Kelly Cup Finals, which Las Vegas reached for the first time.

The Cincinnati Cyclones, the winningest team in the 20-year history of the ECHL, scored two goals in the third period and never trailed en route to a 3-1 victory over the Wranglers in Game 6 of the Finals on Thursday at U.S. Bank Arena in front of 12,722 fans -- the largest crowd ever to witness an ECHL playoff game.

"They did a great job shutting us down. We never were able to put one by their goalie. He played great all series," Las Vegas defenseman Jason Jozsa said of Cincinnati's Cedrick Desjardins (30 saves) in a subdued locker room. "They're the best team we've faced this year. They gave us headaches.

"It's pretty disappointing right now, but we had a great run here and had a lot of fun along the way."

Desjardins went 11-4 with a 1.84 goals-against average in the playoffs to earn Most Valuable Player honors and finished 4-2 with a shutout and a 1.34 GAA in the Finals.

The Wranglers tied the score 1-1 with 1:21 left in the second period on a power-play goal by Adam Cracknell -- Las Vegas' first goal in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 25 seconds.

But the Cyclones regained the lead 35 seconds into the third period on a power-play goal by Matt Syroczynski, who buried a rebound in the right circle.

"During the whole second intermission, we were talking about getting that goal right away to swing the momentum our way. (Las Vegas goalie Kevin) Lalande kicked (the rebound) out right to me, I had the open net and put it in," said Syroczynski, smoking a cigar and drinking a beer in the Cyclones' packed locker room, where the Kelly Cup, much smaller than the Stanley Cup, was passed around. "It's an unbelievable feeling for Cincinnati to come from 800 fans on a Wednesday night to a packed house tonight."

Jon Gleed added a goal at the 6:33 mark to make it a 3-1 game, and the Cyclones cruised the rest of the way, limiting Las Vegas to six shots in the third period.

"We played pretty well. We only made about three or four mistakes tonight, and three ended up in our net, and it cost us the game," Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead with 4:02 left in the first period on a goal by Jean-Michel Daoust, who took a pass at the point from David Desharnais and rifled it into the top of the net.

Desharnais, the ECHL Most Valuable Player, led all scorers with 11 points in the series and 33 points in the playoffs, and Daoust was the second-leading scorer in the series with 10 points.

"They were the best team we've faced. They had depth, good scorers, good goaltending and solid defense. They didn't give us anything," said Lalande, who stopped 23 of 26 shots.

The Cyclones dealt the Wranglers their first back-to-back losses of the playoffs.

Las Vegas, which was outscored 15-8 in the series, outshot Cincinnati 31-26 Thursday but finished 1-for-7 on the power play and 4-for-38 in the series.

Cracknell's goal, a point shot that ripped into the top corner of the net, came at the end of the Wranglers' second two-man advantage in the final minutes of the second period.

Cincinnati (71-17-6) was the first ECHL team ever to reach 70 wins and only the third regular-season champion to win the Kelly Cup.

Las Vegas (61-19-13) was the fifth team ever to reach 60 wins.