Wranglers ‘caught sleeping’ in shutout loss

After nearly 45 minutes of scoreless hockey Friday night at the Orleans Arena, a 14-second span in the third period decided the outcome of the Wranglers' 2-0 loss to the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Las Vegas narrowly missed taking the lead at the 4:52 mark when Blake Gallagher fired a shot from close range that hit the side of the net.

Given a reprieve, Victoria scored on its next trip down the ice as Rick Cleaver beat goalie Michael Ouzas on a shot from the slot to give the Salmon Kings a 1-0 lead at 5:06.

Las Vegas coach Ryan Mougenel said his team was caught sleeping on the play after it came up empty on the other end.

"It's about being mentally sharp," he said. "That's the identity of our team. We don't make those mistakes."

The Wranglers (30-16-3, 63 points), who have lost two straight games and five of eight, had plenty of chances to score. But they went 0-for-7 on the power play, which is one of the worst in the ECHL.

"It was terrible," Mougenel said. "It was nonfunctional and at times looked like it was in full disarray.

"We've got to be a little hungrier around the paint. We're a little bit too perimeter."

Las Vegas had a man advantage with 5:09 left but didn't get a shot on net.

Ryan Dingle scored an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left for Victoria (21-25-3, 45), which beat the Western Conference-leading Wranglers for only the third time in 11 meetings this season.

Salmon Kings goalie David Shantz (17-17-3) made 28 saves to deal Las Vegas its third shutout loss in its last 12 games

Ouzas (12-8-1) turned away 25 of 26 shots, including two breakaways in the final minutes.

Victoria appeared poised to take a 1-0 lead late in the first when a shot got past Ouzas in front of the net. But Las Vegas defenseman Mathieu Brodeur scrambled into the goal to make the save.

The Wranglers wrap up their six-game homestand Sunday against Victoria in their last home game until March 15.

■ NOTES -- Las Vegas left wing Ryan Huddy, who leads the team in scoring with 47 points, missed Friday's game after suffering a broken cheekbone and broken sinus cavity when he skated face-first into an open gate on Utah's bench in Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Grizzlies. … Wranglers right wing Dan Bertram was placed on the 21-day injured reserve.

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