Wranglers edged in shootout

A 10-round fight took place in Las Vegas on Friday night at the Orleans Arena, but it was waged in a hockey rink, not a boxing ring.

In a shootout with first-place Victoria, the Wranglers struck first, but Salmon Kings right wing Shaun Landolt landed the decisive blow in the 10th round, beating Las Vegas goalie Kevin Lalande to give Victoria a come-from-behind 2-1 victory in front of 5,108 fans.

The Wranglers, who remained at the .500 mark at 16-16-4, fell to 0-4 this season in shootouts.

"I guess we need to practice those a little more," Las Vegas center Tyler Mosienko said. "It definitely wasn't Landy's fault. He stood on his head. We need to help him out and put some pucks in the net."

Mick Lawrence scored on the first shot of the shootout to give Las Vegas a 1-0 lead, but Wes Goldie answered in the third round for Victoria to tie it 1-1.

Olivier Labelle scored in the fourth round to give the Salmon Kings a 2-1 edge, but Dan Sprang tied it for the Wranglers in the fifth round.

"We've got to be better," Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Ten shooters and we just scored twice."

Victoria goalie Todd Ford stopped 31 of 32 shots before the shootout, and Lalande turned away 29 of 30.

The Wranglers took a 1-0 lead midway through the second period, on a power-play goal by Kelly Czuy, and were in control of the contest until Victoria tied it with 8:32 remaining in regulation.

Patrick Coulombe launched a shot on net from the point, on the power play, and former Wrangler Sean O'Connor deflected the puck into the back of the net.

Lawrence set up the lone Las Vegas goal, zipping a cross-crease pass from behind the goal line to Czuy, who ripped it past Ford.

Czuy was loaned to Las Vegas on Friday by the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons.

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