Second round a major hurdle

The second round of the playoffs. Despite building a strong winning tradition, the Wranglers have yet to advance past it.

Las Vegas, which fell to eventual ECHL champion Alaska in six games in 2006 and also lost in six games last year to eventual league champion Idaho, has advanced to the second round for the third straight season and hopes to finally reach the conference finals and beyond.

"A lot of guys around here have been losing in the second round in the past, like myself last year," said Wranglers center Aki Seitsonen, who scored three goals in the first round to help Las Vegas beat Stockton in six games. "But we want to go all the way this year, and I think we've got the tools -- the coach, the goaltenders -- we've got everything to get that far."

The Wranglers will face another dangerous Alaska squad at 7:05 p.m. today and Saturday in the first two games of the best-of-7 National Conference semifinals at the Orleans Arena.

"This is a series between two teams who, in my mind, can win it all," Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said.

The Aces, who eliminated the Wranglers in a triple-overtime game in 2006 that was the third longest in ECHL history at 113 minutes, 30 seconds, swept defending ECHL champion Idaho 4-0 in the first round this year and have been off since April 13.

Las Vegas is 2-1-3 against Alaska this season, losing the first three meetings in shootouts on the road before winning two of three at home.

One goal decided five of the six games, with Aces goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu also recording a 3-0 road shutout.

"They're a tough team to play against," Seitsonen said. "They're going to be tight, fast-paced games, which is fine with us. We've got a bunch of good players on our team who can skate, too."

Rookie left wing Josh Soares led Alaska in scoring this season with 81 points, seventh in the league. Center Kimbi Daniels, one of several holdovers from the 2006 Kelly Cup title team, had 66 points, and Cam Keith scored a team-high six points in the first round against Idaho.

Alaska's Peter Metcalf was named the ECHL Defenseman of the Year this season, and the Aces feature two goalies with NHL experience.

Beckford-Tseu is the backup, despite going 35-5-2 for the Aces the last three seasons.

Marek Schwarz is the starter, winning all four games against Idaho, with a 1.83 goals-against average and .951 save percentage.

"Their goaltending is incredibly strong, but our goaltending is strong, too," Gulutzan said. "You're probably looking at the top four goalies at this level."

Rookie netminder Kevin Lalande struggled in the first round for Las Vegas, going 4-2 with a 3.12 goals-against average and .884 save percentage.

He played his best game of the series Tuesday, which also was the day goalie Daniel Manzato returned to the team from the world hockey championships, where he saw action in two exhibitions for Switzerland.

Gulutzan said he'll name his starter after today's morning skate.

"I'm going to sleep on that," Gulutzan said Thursday. "The bottom line is winning. If we get that (from tonight's starter), we'll probably ride him."

Alaska leads the league in the playoffs on the power play and penalty kill -- killing 24 of 25 Idaho power plays -- and Gulutzan said "specialty teams is going to be huge in this series."

Despite Alaska's depth and talent in net, the Wranglers remain confident they can advance.

"I like our chances," Seitsonen said. "We've got to put pressure on the net and get some traffic in front of the net. If a goalie can't see it, he can't stop it.

"It will be a challenge, but every goalie's beatable."

The series will serve as a homecoming for Wranglers defenseman Jason Krischuk, who was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and already is tired of talking about Alaska's goalies.

"They have two goaltenders who played in the NHL, but every goalie has a bad day, and we have two really good goaltenders as well," he said. "If we play our best game and they play theirs, I think we'll come out on top."

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