Orpik finding own game

Partying with Lord Stanley is just one benefit of having a brother who plays for the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wranglers rookie forward Andrew Orpik happily discovered that this summer, when his older sibling, Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, brought the hallowed Cup to the home the brothers share in Boston for a party with family and friends.

"It was pretty cool ... just to see it in person. It was the first time for me," Orpik said. "Being that close to it, the tradition and everything that Cup carries is pretty special."

But while having an NHL champion in the family has its privileges, it also places high expectations on Orpik, who has dealt with comparisons to his brother most of his life.

Andrew, 23, and Brooks, 29, each played hockey at Thayer Academy in Massachusetts, then at Boston College, where each of them helped lead the Eagles to a national title.

"To a certain point, when it first started happening ... it was kind of annoying to me," Andrew Orpik said. "But the older I got, I'm more proud of him now than I ever have been, because I'm going through stuff he's gone through and I see how hard guys work to get to the level he's at.

"It's tough to get compared to him, but it's always going to happen to me. Maybe I'll never be the player my brother is, but not many guys are, either."

Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel said such comparisons are unfair to Andrew Orpik, who had a goal and an assist Friday to help lead Las Vegas to a 4-3 victory over Alaska at the Orleans Arena.

"Having a brother in the NHL doesn't have anything to do with his identity as a player. They're totally different people," Mougenel said. "I'm sure he's kind of sick of hearing the comparison. He's going to be his own person and his own player."

A fifth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2005 -- Brooks Orpik was a first-round pick of Pittsburgh in 2000 -- Andrew Orpik signed a contract in August with the American Hockey League's San Antonio Rampage, who sent him to the Wranglers for seasoning.

"My goal is to get back there this year," Andrew Orpik said. "I just had to be more confident, and I think being down here I'm going to be able to get that confidence back a little bit."

While Mougenel said the 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound Orpik has "a ton of potential" and "an impeccable work ethic," he needs to establish a physical identity on the ice to ascend to the AHL and beyond.

"He needs to be an offensive presence. He needs to play with more of an edge," Mougenel said. "That's really the only thing keeping him out of the (AHL)."

Orpik appeared to embrace that role Friday, when he scored his first pro goal on a deflection in front of the net.

"I can't be trying to stick handle through guys," he said. "I have to chip the puck in, play physical and get to the front of the net. That's where my success is going to come from."

• NOTES -- In the Wranglers' 6-3 win Saturday, Las Vegas accounted for four of the game's seven power-play goals, with Josh Prudden and Adam Miller scoring 31 seconds apart during two-man advantages early in the third period to give the Wranglers a 3-1 lead.

Alaska netted two goals in about two minutes to cut its deficit to 4-3 with 7:15 left, but Ned Lukacevic scored a power-play goal with 5:22 remaining to push Las Vegas' lead to 5-3, and Miller added an empty-net goal with 1:35 left.

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