Albuquerque, NM – The New Mexico Ice Wolves defeated the Amarillo Wranglers at Outpost Ice Arenas by the final score of 2-1 on Friday. The Ice Wolves’ victory in Game 1 gave them a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three series heading into Game 2 on Saturday.
The 4th place Ice Wolves hosted the 5th place Wranglers on Friday night at Outpost Ice Arenas for Game 1 of the best-of-three series to determine who moves on to the first round of the Robertson Cup Playoffs. New Mexico turned to Andy Vlaha in net, who in 30 games in the regular season finished with a record of 14-10-2-3, a 2.57 GAA, and a .922 save percentage. Wranglers netminder Connor McDonough made his Robertson Cup Playoffs debut after finishing the regular season with a record of 26-17-5-2 in 50 games played, a 2.52 GAA, and a .905 save percentage.
It did not take long for the first goal of the series to be scored, as just 1:10 into the contest New Mexico’s Ryan Johnson scored to give the Ice Wolves an early 1-0 lead. Francois Devilliers and Graham Harris assisted on the game’s opening goal. The rest of the period was scoreless and only one penalty was called. The Wranglers went 1/1 on the penalty kill in the first period. New Mexico led the shot count 12-7 after one period of play.
In the second period, the Ice Wolves tacked on another goal to take a 2-0 lead. 6:58 into the period Johnny Johannson scored his first NAHL goal to extend the Ice Wolves lead. The Wranglers responded with a beautiful goal from Connor McNaughton to make it a 2-1 game. Roman Zap was able to get the puck in the attacking zone and find Nolan Gagnon in open space on the right wing. Gagnon then made a perfect tape-to-tape pass to McNaughton who was crashing the net for the score. New Mexico threw everything they could at McDonough outshooting the Wranglers 22-8 in the second period, but the Wranglers’ netminder stood on his head to keep it a 2-1 game. Amarillo only had one power play chance in the second period and wasn’t able to capitalize, but the penalty kill was excellent going 4/4 through two periods.
The Wranglers pushed back hard in the third period, mustering up everything they could to try and tie the game. Amarillo did a good job of creating chances off the rush and getting quality chances with sustained zone time. The Wranglers outshot the Ice Wolves 13-7 in the final frame as they looked to tie the contest. However, Andy Vlaha and the Ice Wolves held firm and were able to fend off the Wranglers by the final score of 2-1. The Wranglers went 0/4 on the power play but 4/4 on the penalty kill in Game 1. Connor McDonough was phenomenal stopping 39/41 shots faced in the loss.
With the loss, the Wranglers are now facing elimination with the Ice Wolves up 1-0 in the best-of-three series. It’s win or go home for the Wranglers who will look to force a Game 3 on Sunday with a victory on Saturday night in Game 2. Puck drop is set for 7:30 PM CDT (6:30 PM local time). You can watch on NATV or listen in on the Wranglers YouTube channel.