Wranglers one win away from advancing to conference finals

After a pair of early exits from the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs the past two seasons, the Wranglers are one win away from advancing to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2009.

Joe Fallon stopped 25 of 26 shots, and four players scored for Las Vegas on Saturday night en route to a convincing 4-1 victory over the host Idaho Steelheads and a commanding 3-1 lead in the conference semifinals.

The Wranglers can wrap up the best-of-7 series today in Game 5 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise. Game 6, if necessary, will take place Tuesday at Orleans Arena.

"It really gives us three opportunities to get after them," Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel said. "Hopefully we can get it taken care of here, but we're not getting ahead of ourselves. We've still got a lot of work to do."

Las Vegas scored the final three goals and outshot Idaho by a wide margin - 49 to 26 - for the third time in the series.

"When we work like that, we'll win games in this league," Mougenel said. "For the most part, we dictated the play."

Local product Chris Francis scored his first playoff goal and added his fourth assist for the Wranglers.

"He was one of our best players again tonight," Mougenel said.

A former Eldorado High student, Francis set up the decisive score at 7:08 of the second period when he fired a blast from the point that Geoff Paukovich deflected past Jerry Kuhn (45 saves).

"That was a gutsy goal going to the net," Mougenel said.

Francis sealed the victory when he scored off a faceoff with 6:15 left.

"Usually when you score a faceoff goal, you win the game," Mougenel said.

Ash Goldie made it 3-1 at 1:56 of the third period when he beat Kuhn to finish a breakaway with Josh Lunden.

Joe Pereira tied it 1-1 for Idaho midway through the first, about five minutes after Adam Miller gave the Wranglers a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the series.

Eric Lampe, who had two goals and five assists in a first-round sweep of Utah, notched his first assist of the series on the play and Judd Blackwater his second.

"They've been a little bit snakebitten," Mougenel said of his top line. "Hopefully that kick-starts them a little bit."

Nine different players have scored for the Wranglers against Idaho, and Fallon notched a victory in his first playoff start since returning from the American Hockey League.

"He hasn't played in a while, so to see him get the win, I thought he did a great job," Mougenel said.

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