Results tagged “Las Vegas Wranglers” from Sporting an opinion

A back-and-forth third period decided an otherwise sluggish game, with Chris Neiszner deflecting a loose puck past Mike Zacharias with 9:21 remaining for the game-winner.

David Walker scored short-handed for the Reign's only goal and Zacharias, making his second start in as many nights, stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Even though the Reign finished their home-opening weekend 1-2, the mood after the game was fairly upbeat. The Reign matched Las Vegas' energy for 60 minutes despite playing three games in three nights.

More details in tomorrow's editions.

It seemed to be the perfect recipe -- bring back the same leadership corps, the same coach, the same system, add some physical toughness and skilled forwards -- and you've got an Ontario Reign squad whose physical talents match their mental acumen.

The only problem, especially Friday, is that the mental toughness wasn't present.

"I think we did it to ourselves," said Jon Rheault, asked if the Las Vegas Wranglers had gotten under their skin in a 4-3 loss in the Reign's home opener. "We have to learn to control our emotions. The reactions to some of the calls we had - we got hit and then we'd spear someone - it's part of the game. We've got to be more mentally tough than that."

Tied 3-3 heading into the third period, the Reign put themselves short-handed one too many times to win their home opener.

With Tim Kraus in the box for tripping, Ned Lukacevic netted the game-winning goal with 6:14 left in the third period, lifting the Las Vegas Wranglers to a 4-3 victory before 8,067 at The Bank. It was the only power-play goal for the Wranglers in nine chances Friday, seven of which came in the final period.

Jon Rheault scored two goals and assisted on the third, Jon Francisco's first goal of the season. Curtis Darling got the start in net and stopped 31 of 35.

More notes and postgame quotes to come. If you went to the game, let me hear from you.

Karl Taylor said he prefers to start the season on the road. With five straight away from the Bank to start the season, his Reign squad got to find out why.

"Playing some games on the road probably made us a little closer as a group," goaltender Curtis Darling said. "We got to spend a little more time together. We had some highs and lows on the road that I think were exaggerated a little bit, but it gave us time to sort that stuff out early on in the season, so we can get all the kinks out and get rolling."

That's the good news.

The bad news is, there's still some kinks to sort out from a 2-3 start. The Reign met for an hour and a half Thursday, followed by an optional skate. Karl Taylor talks about the team's objectives in tomorrow's editions.

The Reign begin a stretch of 7 home games in 10 days tomorrow night against the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7:30 p.m.

In case you missed it, here is my preview of the Reign's home opener tonight against Las Vegas as it appeared in the paper.

A few more notes about tonight's game:

• Reign C Tim Kraus is tied for fourth in the league with a team-leading six assists.
• Las Vegas' Robbie Bina is tied for the league lead among defensemen with six assists and six points.
• David Walker is tied for third among defensemen with five assists, and is tied for fifth with five points.
• Las Vegas' Mick Lawrence has a two-game point streak (1g-2a).
• The Wranglers' team bus features flat-panel TVs with DirecTV.

Finally, tomorrow's opponent, the Bakersfield Condors, will be wearing a unique tribute uniform tonight.

"We have lots of guys that we feel are obviously better than them, that's why we released them," coach Karl Taylor said. "It's hard when you get released or you don't make a team, or you don't get picked for something, you feel like it's your own fault. There is some ownership there, but we have pretty high-level players in camp this year. 

Chad Starling scored the only goal in the shootout, and Mike Howe, Greg Hogeboom, Jon Rheault and Dwight King scored in regulation for the Reign at Center Ice Arena.

The game was back-and-forth, and the Reign showed more aggression (and discipline) than they did a night before in a 5-2 loss in Las Vegas.

Mike Zacharias made 28 saves in regulation and was perfect in overtime and the shootout.

For the second straight year, the Reign finished the preseason 1-1, winning their home game and losing on the road. More details in tomorrow's editions.

Jon Francisco and Greg Hogeboom scored goals, but the Reign were outplayed on special teams and had a hard time controlling the zone in a 5-2 loss to the Las Vegas Wranglers at Orleans Arena. Curtis Darling made 35 saves in goal.

More details in tomorrow's editions; the two teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Friday at Center Ice Arena.

As with any sport, the value of an ECHL preseason game lies less in getting a win as much as assessing the team's talent, deciding who to keep and who to cut.

"We'll try to get everybody in and if not, oh well. That's life," Reign coach Karl Taylor said.

In a way, this is an even more delicate exercise in the ECHL, with so much turnover from year to year (although the Reign have a particularly high retention rate -- 12 of the 30 players who appeared in a game last season are back). But for more than half of his 27 players, Karl Taylor has no frame of reference for how they'll execute for him in a game. On the other hand, there can be as much turnover during the ECHL season as the off-season because of AHL recalls, injuries, trades, and the occasional roster cut. Maybe none of the players on tonight's roster will make it through to the end of the season in Ontario.

That said, here they are: