Late Utah rally tops Wranglers, forces Game 5

Facing elimination, a desperate Utah team rallied for three straight goals in the third period Sunday to erase a 2-1 deficit en route to a 4-2 victory over the Wranglers in Game 4 of their first-round ECHL playoff series at the E-Center.

The comeback win by the Grizzlies evened the best-of-5 series 2-2 and sets up a one-game, winner-take-all showdown Tuesday in Game 5 at the E-Center in West Valley City, Utah.

"I like us," Las Vegas coach Ryan Mougenel said. "Our backs have been up against the wall before. We're used to it."

The Wranglers squandered a chance to close out the series Sunday, when they took a 1-0 lead 13 seconds into the game on a goal by team captain Chris Neiszner.

They led 2-1 after one period but didn't score again, despite outshooting Utah 34 to 25, including 23-13 in the last two periods.

"I don't think we sustained enough pressure at all," Mougenel said.

A day after Ned Lukacevic, Adam Miller and Alex Bourret propelled the Wranglers to a 6-3 win over Utah with multiple-point performances in Game 3, the high-scoring trio was kept off the score sheet.

"It was like we had 1½ lines going and that's not going to win you games in the playoffs," Mougenel said.

"It was a big game, but we had some guys who were not ready to go."

Grizzlies defenseman Brian Kilburg tied it 2-2 on a shot from the blue line 6:47 into the third period. "It had eyes," Mougenel said.

About four minutes later, Tim Crowder gave Utah a 3-2 lead on a rush to the net.

Ryan Kinasewich added an empty-net goal with three seconds left as the Grizzlies scored on three of seven shots in the third period.

"Going into the third up one, we'd like to finish up, but they were playing for their lives and now there are two of us," Neiszner said. "We've just got to regroup. We've shown we can win when we go out and play our best for 60 minutes.

"We played solid for 40 minutes (Sunday), but in the playoffs 40 minutes is not going to cut it. We've got to play 60 and give it all we've got."

Lance Galbraith scored a power-play goal for Utah to tie it 1-1 midway through the first period.

Ryan Weston gave the Wranglers a 2-1 lead with 1:12 left.

Grizzlies goalie Mike Morrison stopped 32 of 34 shots, including the final 23 he faced. Las Vegas goalie Jimmy Spratt turned away 21 of 24.

Utah went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Wranglers went 0-for-3.

The teams have alternated wins in the series, a pattern Mougenel is all too familiar with.

"That's how it's been most of the season for us," he said.

"We'll play one or two good games, then one mediocre, and mediocre doesn't win you games in the playoffs."

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