Relatively average weekend for the Nailers, as they finally win one (in overtime) out in Indy followed by two home losses (one via shootout) to Tulsa. What did you see last weekend in the Nailers’ performance in those games?
Boy, I bet it felt nice to the players out there to get that Indy sized monkey off their back, even if the Fuel did find a way to earn the loser point. Some of the old familiar issues arose for the Nailers yet again on this night, with the power play going 0-for-5 while Indy scored two of their three goals in the game on their own man advantage. On a regular night, these two stats would spell doom for Wheeling. But they made sure that didn’t happen this time.
Indy managed to get on the board in the first with their first power play goal of the game and held a 1-0 lead into the second, where Wheeling managed to score twice off the sticks of Isaac Beliveau and Cedric Desruisseaux to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. When the teams returned to the ice for the third period, the Fuel pushed hard and got two goals before the period was halfway over and held that lead until, with just over two minutes left in regulation, Jordan Frasca found a way to get one in behind Mitchell Weeks, and the Nailers held strong to force the overtime. In the overtime period, Davis Bunz found himself with the puck on his stick and put the game winner in the net to get the 4-3 victory.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for the Nailers, as they returned to Wheeling to welcome the Tulsa Oilers for the weekend. On Saturday, Wheeling found a way to get another 1-0 lead, this time thanks to Justin Lee’s first goal as a professional that led to the annual teddy bear toss. Tulsa took over from there, scoring their first goal of the game less than a minute after that Nailers goal and adding four more in a row from there the rest of the way before Matthew Quercia found a way to stop the bleeding and bring the score to 5-2, which would eventually be the final. Wheeling struggled on defense quite a bit on the night, allowing Tulsa to outshoot them by 14 shots for the entire game, including a 10 shot difference (16 to 6) in the second period alone. Nights like this will happen in hockey, of course, and there were still a few positives to take away. While the power play failed to earn a point in their two trips to the ice, the penalty kill managed to kill off all three Oilers opportunities in the game.
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Going into Sunday’s game with Tulsa, the Nailers had to feel like they had a better idea of what the Oilers were going to try to do on the ice, which was use speed to create opportunities and take a lot of shots on net to try and get it in the net. Luckily, for the most part, Taylor Gauthier was up to the task, making 31 saves on 32 shots in the game. Wheeling found a way to score less than a minute into the game yet again, with Dillon Hamaliuk pushing a rebound into the Tulsa goal just 49 seconds into the contest. From there, a lot of back and forth action took place, with both teams getting a number of strong scoring chances that they just couldn’t capitalize on until the third when Tulsa found the net behind Gauthier. The 1-1 score held through the rest of regulation and through the overtime period, sending the Nailers to only their second shootout of the season, where Tulsa would score in the seventh round to take home the victory. Yet another strong outing by the penalty kill group, going perfect in four opportunities.
Overall, while it would’ve been nice to earn more than three standings points in these three games, I still think this weekend was successful for the boys in black and gold. Earning a victory in Indy showed the boys in uniform that they can go there and bring it home, and the games against Tulsa provided an opportunity to see what the better teams in other divisions are bringing to the ice, something they can make sure they’re ready for next time they get a team of the Oilers caliber. Also, it gave the penalty kill a chance to get back on track, not giving up a goal in their seven times on the ice against Tulsa. Hopefully they can keep that up this weekend with two big division opponents coming to town.
Short weekend for the Nailers this week, as they welcome Indy to town on Friday followed by Cincinnati on Saturday. What does Wheeling need to do to hopefully come out of the weekend with two wins?
Now that they’ve shown they can go to Indy and bring home a victory, the Nailers get a chance to face the Fuel on much Friendlier ice (pardon the pun). As we know, Wheeling has struggled in recent years with Indy no matter which place they’re playing, so hopefully the Nailers can come out and get to their game quickly, forcing Indy to try to play quick and make mistakes with the puck that the Nailers can take advantage of. Wheeling has been most successful when scoring what’s known as “dirty” goals right on the goal mouth on rebounds or by tipping the puck past a goaltender who can’t see it coming at him. If they are able to do that on Friday against Indy, there’s no reason they can’t come away with their second straight win over the Fuel.
On the exact opposite end is Cincinnati, who comes to WesBanco Arena on Saturday. Cincinnati has a rather deep lineup and likes to roll their lines well. They like to use their skill to create odd-man chances and force the goaltender to move a lot, giving them openings to the goal. In a game like that, while Wheeling still wants to try to get to their game, the best thing they can do is play smart with the puck. Avoid unnecessary turnovers and giving up those breaks that the Cyclones want to create, and don’t be afraid to cause congestion in the neutral zone. If Wheeling can find a way to frustrate Cincinnati and keep them from doing what they want in this game, the Nailers have a good shot at coming away with four almost necessary points at this junction (but more on that shortly).
The Nailers made a trade this week, bringing in Jordan Martel from Utah in exchange for Quinn Wichers and future considerations. How do you think this move affects the Nailers moving forward?
Trades are always a tough thing to consider, for the guys who are moving as well as the guys who have to say goodbye to a teammate while trying to welcome someone new into the room. But it’s the way sports go. It’s the way teams are able to turn areas of strength into improvement somewhere that the team struggles at. And in the case of the Nailers, they were able to turn an impressive defenseman, someone who has 26 games of experience at the AHL level, someone who was able to help lead the younger guys and set that example for those guys looking to get to that level themselves, into a right winger that should slot in very well towards the top of the lineup.
Quinn Wichers unfortunately didn’t get much playing time here in Wheeling, only appearing in three games in a Nailers jersey and not registering a point from the blue line. For Wichers, with how deep the defense group is here in Wheeling, it made it tough for him to get that playing time that would allow him to prosper, and getting the chance to go to the Grizzlies should give him a chance to get out on the ice and possibly find his way back to the AHL again in the future. In addition to Wichers, the Nailers had to offer future considerations, which won’t come into play until after the season when Wheeling will give Utah a list of players available to fulfill the rest of the trade, so we won’t worry about that until the time comes.
As for Martel, he really took off in terms of his gameplay when he moved from Ft. Wayne to Utah during the 2022-23 season. In 45 games for the Grizzlies that season, Martel scored 44 points, with an additional three points in five playoff games for them that season. This year, Jordan had 11 points through 16 games played with the Grizzlies but, possibly more importantly, three of his five goals on the season have come on the power play. Combined with his two assists on the man advantage as well, that means almost half of his points on the season have come through special teams. With Wheeling’s power play struggling to get much going, currently succeeding at a 17% rate, adding a player like Martel who has shown a propensity to achieve in that situation couldn’t have come at a better time, and I look forward to seeing what he can do in the black and gold here this weekend.
After this weekend’s games, the Nailers will be one third of the way through their regular season, with only eight points currently separating first and last places in their division. What does Wheeling need to do the rest of the way to get some separation and work their way back into a playoff spot?
As I’ve said a few times this year, I like to break down schedules like these into smaller segments and see how the team is doing like that. If the team can find a way to succeed in most of those segments, I would expect success on the season as a whole and a much needed playoff spot at the end. Especially in a season like this, where all of the teams are so close together in the standings, one small run, either good or bad, can change a team’s fortunes completely.
When looking back over the season the Nailers have had to this point, they were able to go 5-3 in the first eight game segment, although even within that first part of the year, they went 4-1 right off the bat then slowed a little as it ended. Over the next eight game segment, Wheeling only managed to go 3-5, leading to a record of 8-8 on the season at that point. While they managed to win twice against Toledo during this part, they also managed to lose their first two in Indy on the year, which we now know was a terrible omen for how things would go there moving forward.
Now, as they approach the end of yet another eight-game segment, they have gone 2-2-1-1 with two games left for this part. In terms of standings points, they have already earned as many points (six) as they earned in games 9-16, and they still have a chance to earn up to four more, which would be as many as they earned to start the year. If they can win both games this weekend, that would give the Nailers 26 standings points and, with Cincinnati facing Kalamazoo on Friday night before coming to Wheeling, that might be enough to propel the Nailers back into a playoff spot with just one game left before the Christmas break. It’s easy to say that winning is what will help the Nailers get back to that spot, but I really think getting to their game and making their opponent uncomfortable can help give the Nailers the push they need to set themselves apart from the rest of the division and earn that coveted playoff spot by the end of the year.
With Christmas quickly approaching, what do you think your fellow Nailers fans should ask Santa to bring them?
As I said last week, I’m well known in my family and friend circle for being the grinch at Christmastime, so don’t expect me to ask the big man in the red suit for much. However, as a fan of the Nailers, there’s a lot I would like to see him bring to this team and this city both now and in the coming year. I believe he has already fulfilled one of my wishes for the team by bringing Martel to town to hopefully help kickstart the power play and get it back up over the 20% mark that I think would really help them see a lot more success on the ice.
Another place the team could use help, although they looked better this weekend like I said earlier, is on the penalty kill. The Nailers currently sit in 17th place in the ECHL (out of 28 teams) with a 78.3% success rate when a man down, but if they were able to get closer to being in the top 10 (Toledo currently sits in 10th place with an 80.8% success rate on the kill), I really do think that would help put this team over the top as well. They’ve shown they can do better this past weekend against a Tulsa team currently in the top 10 in the league on the power play, so continuing that streak will only serve to help Wheeling continue to see success.
But my biggest wish would be to have the excitement of hockey in Wheeling grab the fans en masse and really see that building packed as much as possible for every game. These guys work tirelessly, from top to bottom and everyone in between, to bring the best possible team to the ice every time out. Getting fans in the arena to help support them, as well as bring a little intimidation for the other team, could go a long way in helping this team achieve their goals of getting into the playoffs and advancing there. I really hope that starts with the two big games coming up this weekend. I’ll see you there, I hope.
