Wranglers still clicking on all cylinders

Not bad for an encore.

A night after annihilating Alaska by eight goals in Game 1 of the ECHL National Conference semifinals, the Wranglers again outplayed the Aces from start to finish in a 3-1 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-7 series Saturday at the Orleans Arena.

Top-seeded Las Vegas will travel to fifth-seeded Alaska for Games 3 and 4 and, if necessary, 5 on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

"Obviously, you want to get the ones you can at home," Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said. "It's gonna be a tough series now. We have to get at least one up there."

The Wranglers, who outshot the Aces 43-23 -- and 89-43 in the first two games -- all but put away the Aces with 6:30 left when Curtis Fraser took a feed from Jason Jozsa at center ice, streaked into the slot and lifted the puck past Alaska goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu to give Las Vegas a 3-1 lead.

"That was huge for us," Gulutzan said. "It gives you breathing room."

The goal was the fourth in three playoff games for Fraser, a rookie center who returned from the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

Alaska had pulled within 2-1 6:08 into the third period when Matt Shasby rifled home a rebound from the right circle. F.P. Guenette set up the score with a blast from the left circle that bounced off the pads of Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande, who made 22 saves and improved to 6-2 in the playoffs.

The goal was the first of the series for the Aces, who ended a 106-minute, 8-second drought against Lalande, who saw his own scoreless streak end at 112:43.

"We're playing our best hockey of the year," Lalande said. "We're outshooting them by a large margin and doing the little things right.

"We're not sitting back. We're playing the full 60 minutes, and that's helped us."

Shortly after officials waved off an apparent goal by Peter Ferraro, whose slap shot from the slot hit the far post, Jozsa scored to give Las Vegas a 2-0 lead with 5:57 left in the second period.

Ferraro fired a long outlet pass to Shawn Limpright, who skated into the left circle and put a perfect centering pass on the stick of Jozsa, who streaked to the front of the net and punched the puck past Beckford-Tseu, who made 40 saves.

After scoring a season-high eight goals and outshooting the Aces 46-20 on Friday, the Wranglers again started strong, outshooting Alaska 18-6 in the first period en route to a 1-0 lead.

Adam Cracknell buried a rebound in front of the net at the 5:26 mark. Kelly Czuy set up the score with a shot from the left circle.

Alaska nearly scored late in the second period on its only power play, but the puck hit the post and caromed onto the ice. Las Vegas came up empty on two third-period power plays.

The teams combined for five penalties for 10 minutes after teaming for 41 infractions for 126 minutes Friday.

The Wranglers have killed 31 of 32 power plays in the playoffs -- 24 of 25 by Stockton in the first round and all seven by Alaska -- and lead the league on the penalty kill.

"Lalande played well, and we didn't give them a whole lot of odd-man rushes," Gulutzan said. "I don't think (the Aces) got any bounces tonight."

• NOTES -- Wranglers center Chris Ferraro remains on the 30-day injured reserve with a concussion suffered March 1 and isn't expected to play in this series.

Ryan Donally and Brandon Kaleniecki also are out with injuries. Donally suffered a lower-body injury in Game 4 against Stockton and is expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks.

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