Wranglers skate past Thunder

After playing three games in three days at Victoria, British Columbia, the Wranglers returned to Las Vegas late Monday and were still tired in Tuesday night's game against Stockton.

But it was hard to tell as the Wranglers raced to a 4-0 lead in the first period and cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Thunder at the Orleans Arena in front of a crowd of around 2,000.

Ryan Huddy and Blake Gallagher scored two goals apiece for ECHL-leading Las Vegas (28-12-3, 59 points) and Joe Fallon stopped 39 shots.

"I don't think we played that well," Wranglers coach Ryan Mougenel said. "You've got two really tired teams coming in that have played a lot of hockey (recently). It could've gone either way.

"The difference was Joe Fallon. He was phenomenal. He's been a rock and led us through all these tough stretches."

The 6-foot-3-inch Fallon (16-7-1) started 13 straight games for Las Vegas while All-Star starter Michael Ouzas (12-5-1) was out with an injury.

"I'm playing really well with the team right now," Fallon said. "I've got a good rhythm going and we have a great corps (of defensemen)."

Blair Riley had a goal and an assist and Centennial High School product Eddie DelGrosso added two assists for the Wranglers, who scored their four first-period goals, three unassisted, in less than eight minutes.

Huddy, who leads the team with 23 goals and 39 points, scored into an open net on the power play at 7:05 to make it 1-0.

Riley scored on a short-handed, unassisted breakaway at 9:40 to make it 2-0.

Huddy also scored on an unassisted breakaway to give the Wranglers a 3-0 lead with 6:03 left in the period and chase Stockton goalie Bryan Pitton, who gave up three goals on 10 shots.

Tyson Sexsmith, who replaced Pitton, didn't fare much better, allowing three goals on 14 shots. He gave up an unassisted goal on the first shot he faced to Jonathan Milhouse, who scored from the right circle to make it 4-0.

Gallagher scored two goals in less than three minutes midway through the second period to seal the victory for Las Vegas, which will play six of its next seven games at home.

Jordan Bendfeld and Jim McKenzie scored for Stockton (22-13-7, 51).

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