Thunder shoots down Wranglers

Anything can happen in the playoffs -- and it did Friday night at the Orleans Arena.

After giving up only two short-handed goals in their 72-game regular season -- and allowing none at home -- the Wranglers surrendered one in their first playoff game, and it cost them dearly in a 4-2 loss to Stockton in front of a crowd of 3,442.

Brandon Schwartz streaked down the left side of the ice, leading a 2-on-1 rush, and slid a cross-crease pass to Jonas Almtorp, who punched the puck past Las Vegas goalie Kevin Lalande to give the Thunder a 3-2 lead with 4:19 to play.

Stephane Goulet added an empty-net goal with 1:10 remaining for the final margin of victory as the eighth-seeded Thunder took a 1-0 lead over top seed Las Vegas in the best-of-7 ECHL National Conference quarterfinals.

Game 2 is scheduled for 7:05 tonight here.

"We're in for a long series," Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Did I think we would win the series in four straight? Not a chance. Do I think we can win the series? Certainly, but it's going to be a tough series.

"They're a good team, too, and we need to battle hard every night."

Las Vegas, which went 7-1-1 against Stockton in the regular season, including 4-0-0 at home, lost despite controlling the action for the first two periods and outshooting the Thunder 41-22.

"We played well enough to win. We created chances, and I think if we keep playing like that, we'll have our fair share of success," Gulutzan said. "For two periods, we played pretty sound. In the third, we made a couple little mistakes.

"Their goaltender played well, they buried their opportunities, and that was the difference."

Jason Jozsa gave Las Vegas a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in front of the net 7:23 into the first period.

Las Vegas, which finished 1-for-4 on the power play, had plenty of chances in the first two periods but couldn't get the puck past Stockton goalie Tim Boron, who started this season with the Wranglers and stopped 39 of 41 shots.

The Thunder scored goals on consecutive shots in the third period to take a 2-1 edge.

Tim O'Connell tied it 1-1 at the 3:50 mark on a shot from the high slot, and Lance Monych made it 2-1 on a blast from the top of the right circle that beat Lalande.

"We didn't bury these guys when we had a chance, and I didn't do my job in the third period," said Lalande, who stopped 18 of 22 shots. "The second (goal), I just misread it, and I'm accountable for that."

The Wranglers, who fell to 4-2 in playoff series openers, tied it 2-2 on a goal by Brandon Kaleniecki with 10:17 left.

"That's the way it goes sometimes. You play a game you think you should win, and you don't," Kaleniecki said. "Their goalie played well for them, they scored some timely goals, and we had a little lapse in the third."

Almtorp said it was a "huge" win and that Stockton believes it can win the series.

"We know we are the underdogs, but we think we have a good chance," he said. "We just have to stay with our game plan, and we think we can beat them."