Wranglers get back on track

A little rest, relaxation and some home cooking was all the Wranglers needed to get back on the winning track.

After suffering their first shutout loss of the season, at Idaho on Saturday, the Wranglers responded with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the reigning ECHL champion Steelheads on Thursday night at the Orleans Arena.

Aki Seitsonen scored a goal at the end of a penalty kill with 5:34 left in the second period to give Las Vegas (21-3-4) a 3-1 lead over Idaho (12-10-7), and the Wranglers held on for the victory, with Sean Owens adding an empty-netter with five seconds left for the final margin.

"The guys had a good rest over the holidays and came back fresh," Seitsonen said. "We'll get better as we go and get the turkey out of the system."

Las Vegas, which improved to 9-1-2 at home and 4-1-2 against Idaho, will play its fifth straight game against the Steelheads at 7:05 tonight at the Orleans Arena.

"We'll be glad when (tonight) is over, and I'm sure Idaho will be, too," said Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan, whose team lost to Idaho 2-0 on Saturday. "They're good, close games every time we play them."

After Idaho pulled within 2-1 at the 6:11 mark of the second period on a power-play goal by T.J. McElroy, Seitsonen restored the Wranglers' two-goal lead late in the period when he juked a defender in the slot and lifted the puck off the crossbar. It then caromed off the back of Steelheads goalie Steve Silverthorn, dropped to the ice and bounced across the goal line.

"It's good to be lucky sometimes," Seitsonen said.

Las Vegas appeared to put the game out of reach early in the third period when Josh Sciba banged home a rebound in front of the net, but the goal was waved off after Jason Krischuk was whistled for a four-minute, double-minor high sticking penalty.

Idaho scored less than a minute later to make the score 3-2 as Lance Galbraith scored a power-play goal from behind the goal line that bounced off the pads of Wranglers goalie Daniel Manzato (12-1-1) and into the net. But Las Vegas held off Idaho the rest of the way as Manzato finished with 22 saves.

"The guys did good. They battled," Gulutzan said. "It was good to play a good team after Christmas and try to get back to our winning ways."

Las Vegas took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when Aaron Power blasted a slap shot from the slot past Silverthorn, who was screened by Sean Owens, on a two-man advantage.

The Wranglers made it 2-0 early in the second period when Krischuk took a pass from Manzato in his own end and flew down the ice before rifling a shot from the blue line into the top of the net.

Gulutzan, who joked that Manzato now has more points than scoreless defenseman Jason Dest, said Krischuk's "game looked good" and he "should give Kris four days off more often."

Krischuk attributed his fresh legs to spending quality time at home in Alaska over the holiday break.

"I hung out with the family and didn't do much at all," he said. "I had a couple nice dinners that my mom cooked. It must have been the home cooking."

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