Salmon Kings subdue short-handed Wranglers
Missing several key players, the Wranglers lacked scoring punch and struggled mightily on the power play Sunday afternoon in a 4-2 loss to the Victoria Salmon Kings in front of 4,644 at the Orleans Arena.
Ryan MacMurchy and Matt Butcher scored two goals apiece for Victoria, which led 3-0 after two periods.
Playing without 10 players on its roster — including two of its top scorers in Ryan Huddy and Tyler Mosienko — Las Vegas went 2-for-11 on the power play, scoring each goal with a two-man advantage.
“We’re (extremely) short-handed, but it doesn’t excuse our power play not getting things done,” Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel said. “We scored two power-play goals, but they were two 5-on-3 goals. Whoop-dee-doo.”
Las Vegas (30-17-3, 63 points) has lost its past three games — and six of nine — to match its longest skid of the season.
The Wranglers snapped a scoreless drought of more than two hours when defenseman Nick Ross scored at 7:22 of the third period to make it 3-1.
Butcher scored in front with 6:04 left to put the Salmon Kings (22-25-3, 47) up 4-1.
Defenseman Barry Goers added a goal in the final minute for Las Vegas, which won the season series 8-4 over Victoria but lost the last three meetings.
David Shantz (18-17-3) made 30 saves for the Salmon Kings.
Michael Ouzas (12-9-1) stopped 19 of 23 shots for the Wranglers as he lost for the sixth time in seven starts since returning from a concussion.
“He’s been good, but he hasn’t been good enough,” Mougenel said.
MacMurchy scored on a deflection at 3:11 of the first period to give Victoria a 1-0 lead and scored an unassisted, short-handed breakaway goal to make it 2-0 with 17 seconds left in the period.
Butcher beat Ouzas from the left circle with 4:41 left in the second period to make it 3-0.
Victoria center Tim Kraus speared Wranglers left wing Greg Collins near the Salmon Kings’ bench with 1:06 to play and was given a game misconduct. Collins then got into an altercation with Victoria right wing Matt Siddall, who threw punches at Collins from the bench. Both players received roughing double minors, and Siddall was given a game misconduct for inciting.
Huddy, one of six Wranglers out with injuries, missed his second straight game since suffering broken bones in his face in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Utah.
Mosienko has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for cross-checking Salmon Kings left wing Chad Painchaud in Friday’s 2-0 loss to Victoria.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.