With playoffs nearing, Wranglers heading in wrong direction

At a time when ECHL teams want to start peaking for the playoffs, the Wranglers are reeling.

They suffered their season-high fourth straight loss Friday -- and sixth in a row at home -- in a 4-1 defeat to Alaska in front of 5,355 fans at Orleans Arena.

The loss dealt a blow to Las Vegas' chances of overtaking the Aces for the top seed in the Western Conference and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

With nine games left in the regular season, the Wranglers (35-23-5, 75 points) trail Alaska (40-21-3, 83) by eight points and are tied with surging Bakersfield for first place in the Pacific Division.

The Condors (36-25-3, 75) beat Ontario 3-1 on Friday for their seventh straight win and 10th in 11 games.

'We're pretty frustrated right now," Las Vegas center Tyler Mosienko said. "We just need to let the clouds clear and go back to the basics and play simple hockey."

The Wranglers allowed three straight goals to the Aces and were outshot 16-3 in the second period, prompting coach Ryan Mougenel to hold a closed-door meeting with his players for nearly 30 minutes after the game.

"We are too easy to play against. That definitely was talked about," he said. "We're not physical enough; we're soft at times. It's a game where you have to engage and you have to compete."

Brian Swanson scored on an odd-man rush to give Alaska a 1-0 lead at 3:27 of the second period, and Scott Howes made it 2-0 at 5:30 when he hammered home a loose puck in front of the net on the power play.

Jerad Stewart put the Aces ahead 3-0 with 3:48 left when he buried a centering pass from Scott Burt in front.

The Wranglers, who host Alaska today and Tuesday, will have to turn things around without a dozen players who are either injured or in the American Hockey League.

"Obviously, we're short. But to me it's an excuse," Mougenel said. "We've had success by playing detailed, hard-working, meat-and-potatoes hockey and we're getting away from that."

Las Vegas defenseman Aaron Power scored on a slap shot from the right point on the power play to make it 3-1 with 6:44 to play.

Dan Kissel added an empty-net goal from for the Aces with 1:16 left.

Gerald Coleman (25-14-1) made 17 saves for Alaska and Michael Ouzas (17-13-2) stopped 27 shots for the Wranglers.

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