phxroadrunners.com

Peter Ferraro and Kelly Czuy each tallied a pair of goals in a four-goal second period, and the Las Vegas Wranglers scored three times on the power play to defeat the Phoenix RoadRunners 5-2 before 2,780 at US Airways Center in ECHL action Thursday.

The RoadRunners and Wranglers each traded goals in the opening period. Las Vegas (31-9-7) struck first at 11:00 on the power play when Shawn Limpright found Brandon Kaleniecki with a back-door pass at the side of the net, and Kaleniecki stuffed it past RoadRunners goalie Cody Rudkowsky for a 1-0 lead. Peder Skinner tallied the equalizer at 17:41 of the first when he received a pass in the slot from Ian Turner, made a nifty move to get around Wranglers goalie Kevin Lalande, and tapped the puck into the empty cage to tie the score at 1-1.

Las Vegas used that four-goal outburst in the second period to build a commanding 5-1 lead. Ferraro scored his first of back-to-back goals when he beat Rudkowsky over the glove with a wrist shot from the left-wing circle at 1:27. Ferraro netted his second of the game minutes later at 3:32 of the second on the power play tapping another back-door pass into the net for a 3-1 advantage. Czuy extended the Wranglers lead to three when Rudkowsky failed to squeeze the puck in the crease and Czuy tipped it into the open cage at 9:56. Czuy scored a second goal as well finishing off a pass from Bruce Mulherin at 18:06 of the second on the power play making it a 5-1 hockey game. The RoadRunners (16-26-6) would finally stop the Las Vegas attack as Ian Turner split the pads of Lalande with a slap shot from the left-wing circle at 19:54 on the power play to cut the margin to 5-2 heading into the second intermission.

Despite out-shooting Las Vegas 18-9 in the third period the RoadRunners could not produce any goals against Lalande.

Phoenix out-shot Las Vegas for the game 43-36. Rudkowsky stopped 31 shots but fell to 9-17-3 on the year. The RoadRunners went 1-7 on the power play while Las Vegas was 3-9 with the man-advantage.

Notes: Phoenix is now 1-7-0 this season against Las Vegas and 5-21-0 all-time versus the Wranglers in the regular season…Skinner is tied with South Carolina’s Pierre-Luc O’Brien for 12th overall in the ECHL rookie scoring race…Las Vegas is 17-54 (31.4%) on the power play this year against the RoadRunners.

Phoenix opens a three-game series at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday against the Idaho Steelheads from Qwest Arena in Boise. Catch all the action live on www.phxroadrunners.com beginning with “RoadRunners Countdown” at 6:50 p.m.

The RoadRunners return to US Airways Center at 7:11 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18 when they host the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Great seats are still available beginning as low as $8 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (480) 784-4444, purchasing online at ticketmaster.com or visiting the US Airways Center Box Office. Information on season tickets, half-season packages, and flex plans for the 2007-08 season of Phoenix RoadRunners Hockey are available by calling (602) 462-GOAL.