Wranglers find firm footing

With their championship hopes hanging in the balance, the Wranglers would not be denied on Friday night at the Orleans Arena.

Facing almost certain elimination if it lost, Las Vegas dominated Cincinnati throughout Game 4 of the Kelly Cup Finals, scoring 41 seconds into the game and never letting up on its way to a 2-0 win that evened the best-of-7 series 2-2.

Game 5 is set for 7:05 p.m. Monday at the Orleans Arena.

"Tonight's win was huge. We didn't want to go into Monday trailing 3-1 and having to win here and then win two games in their building," said Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande, who stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the series against the Cyclones, who had been blanked only one time in their first 16 playoff games.

"We played our best game of the series," Lalande said. "It's a completely new series now. Last night, we played 55 minutes, and tonight we played 60."

Aki Seitsonen, a Wranglers center from Finland, scored on the first shot of the game to ignite Las Vegas and most of the 7,703 fans in attendance.

Corralling a carom off the boards, Seitsonen skated behind the net and across the goal line before firing one inside the near post, beating Cincinnati goalie Cedrick Desjardins, who stopped 33 of 35 shots.

"One of their defenseman missed a shot. It came out around the corner of the net, and I just kind of tucked it in there," Seitsonen said. "It's always nice to get a good start at home. When you score on the first shift of the game, it puts a little pressure on the other team and gets everybody going a little bit."

Kelly Czuy scored 6:14 into the second period to give Las Vegas a 2-0 lead for the second straight night. Czuy took a pass in stride from Marco Peluso, skated through the slot and waited for Desjardins to go down onto the ice before lifting the puck over his left shoulder.

"We just stuck to our systems and did the same thing we've been doing all through the playoffs, and we just came out on top tonight," Czuy said. "We outworked them. We got the pucks deep when we needed to."

The Wranglers outshot the Cyclones 35-27, and both teams came up empty on the power play, with Las Vegas finishing 0-for-5 and Cincinnati 0-for-6.

Unlike Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Cyclones, the Wranglers never let up in this one.

"Both teams are probably tired. Those were two hard-fought battles," Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We didn't have any letups tonight, and this is what we have to expect for the playoffs. This is what we prepared our guys for, especially today. These series are long and hard, and you've got to grind out wins, and that's what we did."

Cincinnati coach Chuck Weber, the ECHL Coach of the Year, said his team lacked the sense of urgency the Wranglers had.

"We didn't get off to a good start giving up the first goal in the first minute," he said. "We didn't pay attention to detail, and we didn't play with any desperation. Las Vegas came out and played like a desperate team."

Lalande said Gulutzan didn't need to say a word to get his team ready Friday.

"We don't need anything to motivate us. We know what's at stake," he said. "Guys don't know if chances like this will come around again. We worked hard for it all year, and we're so close. Guys don't want to spend their summer regretting they should've done this or that."

• NOTE -- Wranglers center Chris Ferraro played in his first game since suffering a concussion at Victoria on March 1.

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