Reign send listless Wranglers to fifth straight home loss

One lucky Wranglers fan will receive a free tattoo removal or cover-up at today's "Regrettable Tattoo Night" at Orleans Arena.

Las Vegas hosted an unofficial "Regrettable Second Period Night" on Thursday, when it allowed three consecutive goals to the ECHL-worst Ontario (Calif.) Reign en route to an uninspired 4-2 loss -- its fifth straight at home.

"We're brutal at home. I'm embarrassed," Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel said after his team fell to 17-12-1 at Orleans Arena. "I don't know what to say. It's unacceptable."

With 10 games left in its regular season, Las Vegas (35-22-5, 75 points) has seen its Pacific Division lead dwindle to two points over Bakersfield (35-25-3, 73) and three over Stockton (31-22-10, 72).

With their second loss to the Reign (23-35-6, 52) in six days, the Wranglers missed a chance to pull within four points of Western Conference-leading Alaska (39-21-3, 81) heading into the teams' pivotal three-game series here today, Saturday and Tuesday.

"Ontario looked like a team that's inspired," Mougenel said. "We looked like a team that's out of the playoffs."

The Reign, who will probably be the only team from the conference not to make the playoffs, scored twice in the first 2:41 of the second period to go up 2-1 and added a goal at 9:04 to make it 3-1.

Aaron Lewadniuk scored unassisted at 1:20 to tie it at 1. He skated around Wranglers defenseman Barry Goers, who had fallen on the ice, before burying his own rebound inside the post.

Kyle Kraemer gave the Reign a 2-1 lead 81 seconds later when he deked Las Vegas defenseman Craig Switzer in front of the net and beat Wranglers goalie Michael Ouzas (32 saves).

Shawn Germain made it 3-1 when he finished off an odd-man rush with Lewadniuk.

"I've never seen us make mistakes like that before," Mougenel said.

The Wranglers made it a 3-2 game with 1:57 left in the second when Colin Long finished off an odd-man rush with Ryan Huddy.

But Las Vegas, which incurred four penalties in the first 13:31 of the third, couldn't crack Ontario goalie Jase Weslosky, who stopped 27 of 29 shots.

Justin Taylor scored an empty-net goal for the Reign with 44 seconds left.

"We're getting a little complacent," Switzer said. "We know we clinched a playoff spot, and guys have got the mindset that we can kind of squeak into the playoffs and take these games off.

"It showed tonight. We were just too lackadaisical."

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