Rough weekend for the Nailers, getting only one win in three games against Cincinnati and Iowa. Where did things go wrong in those games, and what can Wheeling learn from it to apply to upcoming matchups?
Hitting the road for a game the day after Thanksgiving, with all of the turkey and sides sitting on the stomach, has to be a tough trip. Both the Nailers and Cyclones appeared to struggle to get things going after the holiday, as the teams combined for only 11 shots on goal in the first period as they tried to get their legs back under them. Cincy wasted no time getting things going in the second though, scoring two goals less than three minutes apart within the first six minutes of the period to get a quick 2-0 lead. Wheeling ended up scoring one with less than a minute left in the period off the stick of Dillon Hamaliuk to make it 2-1 going into the break, but that’s the closest the Nailers would get on the night. Hamaliuk would score a second goal on the night, this time on the power play, but Wheeling would eventually fall short by a final score of 5-2.
The Nailers then returned home for a Saturday/Sunday series against the Heartlanders, marking the first two games Wheeling has had a chance to play against Iowa this season. The first game of the weekend went very wrong for the home team very quickly, with Iowa picking up four goals in the first period, two of which came on the man advantage, while enjoying a 16-5 advantage in shots in what might have been the most lopsided period of hockey the Nailers have faced all season thus far. While Wheeling did manage to get two goals back in the second thanks to Evan Vierling and Tanner Laderoute, the Heartlanders managed to score two more, including one more power play goal, leading to a 6-2 final in favor of Iowa. Having your opponent go 3-for-5 on the power play while your own man advantage fails in the two opportunities they had will doom just about any team, and that’s exactly what it meant for Wheeling on this night as well.
After getting shut down in their previous two games on the weekend, the Nailers had a lot to prove coming out on Sunday evening. After a first period that saw some good back-and-forth action with neither team getting an advantage, Wheeling finally found a way to get one in the net, with Davis Bunz scoring shortly after the Nailers only power play of the night ended. Lukas Svejkovsky gave Wheeling a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later before Iowa scored one to make it 2-1 at the second intermission. After quite a bit more back and forth action to start the third, Svejkovsky found the back of the net for his second of the night and Matt Koopman scored into the empty net with 1:40 left in the game to give Wheeling a 4-1 victory to keep from getting shut out of the win column for the weekend.
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While it would’ve been nice to come out of the weekend with more than two standings points, considering how much of a dogfight Wheeling currently finds themselves in with regards to the standings (more on that later), the specialty teams letting the team down again has to be the biggest issue facing this club right now. The power play did manage to score once on the weekend on Friday, but when you’re getting eight chances on it combined in these three games, it’s simply not enough to help this team be successful. On the other side, the penalty kill allowed three goals on nine chances in all three games combined (although all three goals came in the same game on Saturday against Iowa). That just isn’t going to cut it either, considering the pace at which Wheeling suddenly finds themselves taking penalties. That’s an average of one power play goal against per game in three chances, which wouldn’t hurt as bad if the power play was able to balance it out a bit. But with both sides struggling, Wheeling will find it difficult to stay competitive over the course of the full season.
The Nailers had a midweek matchup with the Fuel out in Indy on Wednesday, coming out on the short end with a 3-2 loss. What does this loss mean to Wheeling, and where do they go next?
Well, that’s not exactly the outcome you want when facing the team currently sitting in last place in your division. While Indy did start the year off a little slow, they’ve shown signs of improvement over the last couple of weeks, with this game being no exception. The game started rather awkwardly, with both teams combining for nine penalties in the first period alone, including a fight between Matthew Quercia for the Nailers and Chris Cameron for the Fuel. Wheeling managed to get the first tally of the game, a power play goal just 1:44 in by Cedric Desruisseaux, who was making his return to the lineup after spending some time up in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Indy would manage to score two before the end of the first though, both coming within the last two minutes of the period and one of them shorthanded during a five-on-three advantage for Wheeling, giving the Fuel the 2-1 lead after the first.
The second period was more of the first, just not quite as many penalties. Six penalties were called during the period, leading to two power play goals during the period, one by each team, leading to what would eventually be the final score of 3-2 after the second period. Two more penalties were called against the Nailers in the third, and even though there was some back-and-forth action, neither team was able to put another one in the net, giving the Fuel the victory when the final horn sounded.
While it was nice to see the Nailer power play finally get on the board multiple times in a game, going 2-for-7 in the game overall, that shorthanded goal against when Wheeling had a two-man advantage was a bit of a killer. In that situation, you can’t allow your opponent that type of chance against, let alone to have it end up in your net. The penalty kill also performed more admirably, allowing only one goal on eight chances, but when the eventual game winner is scored against your penalty kill, it simply isn’t enough. It also doesn’t help that Indy was given eight opportunities with the man advantage. As I stated during the Derek Army coaches’ show this week, the team needs to play more disciplined hockey, and this isn’t a very good example of that. If they can find a way to limit their penalties while taking advantage of their power play opportunities, it would help this team out considerably.
The Nailers have an odd weekend with home games against Toledo on Friday and Kalamazoo on Sunday bookending another road game on Saturday in Indy. What do they need to do in these games for it to be considered a successful weekend in your eyes?
Boy, the schedule makers for the ECHL sure did have fun when putting together the Nailers schedule for this season. Wheeling will face Indy six times before the calendar year changes to 2024, and five of those, including the game on Saturday, will be played in Indy. Unfortunately, in the two games Wheeling has already played there, they’ve lost both of them. But the way the players have to look at it, that just means they have four more chances coming up over the next month against them, with three of those in their building. That’s four chances to show Indy why Wheeling is above them in the standings and plan on staying there.
Of course, to get to that game, they have to get through Toledo on Friday at Wesbanco Arena. The Nailers have already faced them twice this season, winning both matchups, so it’s very important they find a way to get back to what worked against them already and keep doing that. The Walleye come into this game in first place in the division, with a record of 9-3-1-1, and in another bit of scheduling oddities, the Nailers won’t see the team that is arguably their biggest rival again until near the end of March, so this will stay in their minds for a while. I think the Nailers need to take advantage of that fact and make it so that a loss is what they are focusing on for that length of time.
To end the weekend, Wheeling will welcome Kalamazoo to the Friendly City on Sunday. These two teams have only met once this season, a 7-2 victory for the Nailers up in Kalamazoo. This is another game against a team currently trailing the Nailers in the standings, so this is where Wheeling needs to earn their standings points. It’s obviously going to be a difficult game, as it’s the third in three days, with considerable travel in the middle, and the tail end of the team playing eight games in a 12 day stretch. The Nailers will need to count on their conditioning and watch their shift lengths on the ice. Keep fresh legs going and apply pressure when safe to do so. The team will have four days off before their next game after that one, so no reason not to leave it all on the ice and try to earn those two points.
Through their first 16 games, the Nailers have managed to score first in nine of their games, and have a record of 7-2 in those contests where they are able to get the first tally. Why do you think scoring first has been so important to this team to this point in the season?
It’s long been said that scoring first in hockey is important, but these numbers feel a bit strange to me. To have such a good record when scoring first, and therefore such a bad record (1-6) when the other team scores first, is interesting. It shows why Wheeling needs to come out hot in their games, bring the game to their opponents, and force them to play on their heels. If Wheeling is able to maintain such an advantage in games where they manage to score first, then it becomes even more important to start each game hot and find a way to get the first goal.
The really crazy part is, when looking at the league as a whole, there have been 220 games played to this point leaguewide, and the team that scores first in each game has a record of 154-50-13-3 for a 0.736 winning percentage across every team in the league in that situation. That means, for every four games your team scores first, you should expect them to win that game approximately three times. In two of the divisions (the North division in the Eastern conference and the Central division in the Western conference, the actual division the Nailers are in), that win percentage would be good enough for first place in the entire division. In the South division, that team would be in second place, and in the Mountain division, it would be good for third place behind Idaho and Kansas City. Knowing how important it is, the Nailers need to come out and really make it a focus of theirs to be the first on the board as often as possible.
The Nailers do a lot of fun activities that involve the community of Wheeling as well as surrounding cities. What do the players think of these events they get to be a part of, and what does it mean to these communities to have the players be a part of these events?
It’s always exciting to see members of the Nailers out doing things with people in the community. These young men work hard on the ice to make us proud to be fans, all while making sure they do what they can to show they’re a part of the community as a whole. I can tell, in the interactions I’ve had with some of the players, that they really look forward to the chance to do things like personally delivering season tickets, going to the local elementary schools and having fun with the kids, and being in local Christmas parades. It gives them the chance to thank the people who are responsible for coming to games and supporting them in what they do too.
This week alone, some of the players are taking part in the Symphony on Ice, pulling Santa’s sleigh on the ice at the end of the show. Then next Wednesday, players will be around the area ringing bells for the Salvation Army red kettle drive. I think it’s a great sign that these guys are out there showing their support for our community. They’re trying to do things to help those less fortunate during the holiday season and interact with the younger fans to help develop their love for the game. Since they’re out there and interacting with all of us, we should do everything we can to help support them as well by going to the games and helping them feed off our energy and push them to more victories.
