Wranglers blow two-goal lead, lose to Condors, 6-5

The Wranglers couldn’t maintain a two-goal lead and fell 6-5 to the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday night before 2,977 at Orleans Arena.

Las Vegas, which has one win in its past 12 games and is last in the ECHL’s Pacific Division, didn’t trail until Chase Schaber scored at 12:22 of the third period to put the Condors ahead 5-4. Bakersfield rallied from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 before taking the lead on Schaber’s goal.

Geoff Paukovich’s goal at 18:47 of the first period broke a 2-2 tie, and the Wranglers increased their lead to 4-2 when Matt Tassone scored a short-handed goal at 5:49 of the second period.

But Bakersfield cut the margin to 4-3 on Erik Burgdoerfer’s goal at 13:12, then drew even at 4 when Chris Collins scored 1:27 later. Collins scored the ultimate game-winner with a short-handed empty-net goal with 1:56 remaining.

Despite outshooting the Condors 35-23 overall and 19-8 in the third period, the Wranglers couldn’t complete the rally. They did cut the deficit to 5-4 on Robert Smith’s goal with 36 seconds remaining.

Bakersfield goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 30 saves against the Wranglers, who went 0-for-5 on the power play.

The Wranglers return to action at 7:05 p.m. Friday when they host Idaho in the first of back-to-back home games to wrap up a three-game homestand.