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Streaking Wranglers jump to second in division

The Wranglers finally appear to be hitting their stride at the perfect time.

Las Vegas exploded for four power-play goals and never trailed Saturday in a 6-2 victory over Bakersfield in front of a crowd of 4,713 at the Orleans Arena.

The Wranglers (29-26-7) have won three straight games, all against the division-leading Condors (32-24-5), to climb to second place in the Pacific and are three games over .500 for the first time.

A win by Las Vegas (65 points) today would cut the gap behind Bakersfield to two points with 10 games remaining.

"We're playing well on both sides of the puck and that's important," coach Ryan Mougenel said. "Every game is a full-out sprint to the playoffs."

Mick Lawrence had two goals and an assist, Adam Miller had a goal and two assists and Alex Bourret added a goal and an assist for the Wranglers. They chased Bakersfield goalie Tyler Sims (2-4-1) with goals in the second period by Bourret, Josh Prudden and Lawrence. Sims gave up four goals on 20 shots.

Jimmy Spratt stopped 35 of 37 shots for Las Vegas to improve to 5-1-1.

Las Vegas, 3-for-5 with the man advantage in Friday's 5-4 victory over Bakersfield, entered with the worst power-play percentage (14.4) in the ECHL. But it converted 4 of 7 chances Saturday.

Craig Switzer also scored for the Wranglers and fellow defenseman Mike Madill added three assists.

The game got chippy in the third period, when there were four fights.

Matt McCue, the Condors' 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound defenseman, hit Bourret as he crouched and appeared to try to smash his head on the ice before officials intervened. As the crowd booed, McCue simply smiled and blew a kiss at Bourret as he skated to the penalty box.

McCue was assessed a double-minor and 10-minute misconduct. Switzer made him pay 19 seconds later, when he scored on the power play to make it 5-1.

Chris Neiszner redeemed the Wranglers when he dropped Bakersfield right wing Ryan Menei with a left hook.

■ NOTES -- Las Vegas left wing Ned Lukacevic, second on the team with 62 points, was loaned to Providence of the American Hockey League.

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

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