The Nailers had the worst possible outcome last weekend, losing all three at home against Indy and Kalamazoo. Where did things go wrong for Wheeling during these games?
Well then. I’m not sure that homestand could’ve gone any worse for the Nailers if they tried. Losing three games when you’re in a dogfight of a division isn’t optimal. Having two of those losses come against the team that’s quickly becoming your biggest rival in Indy hurts even more. The game on Saturday is one that could stick with you for a while, but we’ll get to more on that shortly. Despite all of that, I still see reasons for optimism for this Wheeling team this season.
Friday night’s game began rather lopsided for the visiting Fuel. Shots after the first period were 19-5 in favor of Indy, and Wheeling seemed to struggle at times just to play cohesive hockey. Despite that, they managed to only be trailing 1-0 after the period thanks to the goaltending of Taylor Gauthier, whose lone blemish was a breakaway goal during 4-on-4 play. Entering the second period, the Nailers needed to get themselves back in the game quickly, and they managed to do just that thanks to a goal off the stick of Justin Addamo on the power play just over four minutes into the period. Play began to pick up a bit after that, but Indy managed to cash in quickly, with two goals against in a span of 17 seconds to give the Fuel the 3-1 lead heading to the third, meaning Wheeling needed to find a way to come back, something they haven’t been very successful at this season, with a record of 0-10-1 when trailing after two coming into the weekend.
The Nailers came back out for the third looking to get back into the game, and two and a half minutes into the final frame, Evan Vierling got them back to within a one goal difference. Things stayed like that until two very costly penalties seemingly sank any hopes Wheeling had of getting back into the game. Matthew Quercia got called for roughing then, shortly after the Nailers found a way to kill that one off, Dillon Hamaliuk took a holding call and forced a tired shorthanded group right back onto the ice. Indy finally cashed in on that man advantage, their only power play goal of the game, but it was enough swing things for good. The Fuel got an empty net goal with less than a minute left to earn the 5-2 victory in a game that felt a lot closer than the score seemed.
The Nailers came back out on Saturday hoping to even the two-game series with the Fuel and looked poised to do so, despite Indy finding a way to score first again just under seven minutes into the game on the power play. From there, Wheeling took over, with Cedric Desruisseaux getting on the board twice (with his second being on the power play), followed by David Drake netting his first of the year to give the Nailers a 3-1 lead after the first. The second turned out to be more of the first for Wheeling, as Lukas Svejkovsky, Quercia on the power play, and David Jankowski managed to push the Nailer goal total for the game to six, with one more Indy goal squeezed in there to make it a 6-2 advantage heading to the final frame. Coming into the game, Wheeling was 15-0-0-1 on the season when leading after two periods, and with such a large lead, you had to feel confident they could hold onto this one.
When the two teams returned to the ice and Addamo was able to find the back of the net, once again on the power play, to give Wheeling a 7-2 lead just over two minutes into the period, you had to think this one was over. The only problem with that is, nobody told the Fuel, and that’s when they really turned it on. Their first goal of the comeback came just 2:28 after the Addamo goal, but the confidence was still there with a 7-3 advantage. Then came the goals at 8:40, 8:49 (just nine seconds between goals against, not the best sign), and 12:52 of the period brought Indy back to within a goal at 7-6, and you could see that the Nailers were gripping their sticks tighter and were playing not to lose, while the Fuel just went about their business and felt like they were going to finish the job.
After a timeout by Coach Army to settle the troops, the Nailers seemed to get back into the game, holding strong against the Indy push while creating a couple good scoring chances of their own. Then, disaster struck, as Dillon Hamaliuk was called for a five-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct for boarding, and the Fuel struck twice on the ensuing power play to take an 8-7 lead that ended up being the final score.
It’s hard when you’re in a game like that to forget about it quickly, let alone to have to play another game the next night against a new opponent in Kalamazoo, but the Nailers did everything they could to move on and focus on their last game before the all-star break. Wheeling did manage to score first, with Svejkovsky finding the back of the net on the power play just under eight minutes into the game. However, you could see that the outcome from the night before was still weighing on the boys, as the Wings found two goals of their own during the period, including one on the power play, to take a 2-1 lead to the locker room after the first.
Wheeling never really seemed to get their game back into gear over the last two periods, with most of their scoring chances and shots coming from areas where Kalamazoo could handle them rather easily, and neither team found the back of the net the rest of the way, giving Wheeling their third straight loss on home ice for the weekend. Despite playing rather strong, Taylor Gauthier earned the loss despite making 28 saves on 30 shots by the K-Wings. I had really hoped the Nailers could find a way to forget about what happened the night before and find a way to at least earn one win for the weekend, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
The Nailers now will head on the road for two games in Iowa against the Heartlanders on Friday and Saturday. What do they need to do to right the ship and earn some points?
Boy, after a weekend like that, getting a couple games against the only team left below Wheeling in the standings might be just what the doctor ordered, despite the Nailers record on the road this season. Both teams have 34 standings points on the season, despite Iowa playing two more games than Wheeling has to this point. Despite that, the Heartlanders do have an 8-5-2 record at home, and have recently received an influx of players from higher up in their organization, so Wheeling has to stay focused to hopefully come out of the weekend with four points.
The Nailer power play really showed up for them last weekend, earning five goals on 17 chances, and on the season, that group has been much more successful on the road than they have been at home, so continuing that improvement would go a long way towards a good weekend for the visitors. On the flip side, the penalty kill gave up at least one goal against in each game last weekend, giving up five goals in only 15 chances, and a success rate of only 66.67% isn’t good enough to win many games in this league. The best way to improve on that is to stop taking bad penalties, leaving the shorthanded group on the ice for too long (like what happened in the first game against Indy). That’s another area where the Nailers have been considerably better on the road than at home, and hopefully that continues to be the case.
With their three losses last weekend, Wheeling has dropped from third place to sixth in the Central Division. What do they need to do to get back into the playoff fight?
While it is true the Nailers dropped considerably in the division standings, the funny thing is they’re still just as in the race as they were heading into last weekend, with only five points separating them from second place Fort Wayne (34 points for Wheeling compared to 39 for the Komets) with three games in hand on them. The only team between those two in the standings that has played the same number as Wheeling is Kalamazoo, while both Indy and Cincinnati have both played one more game on the year so far than the Nailers have. So, despite the fact that everyone feels frustrated coming off of a weekend like that, those three games don’t mean Wheeling is out of this thing, especially since we’re only halfway through January, with plenty of hockey left to be played.
Like I’ve said a few times this season, I like to break down a long season like this into smaller segments, with the Nailers having nine segments of eight games each through the season. Wheeling is now two games into the fifth such segment on this season (meaning after these two games against Iowa, they will officially be exactly halfway through the regular season), and this is the first time they’ve lost both of the first two games of a segment yet. So far in the four segments they’ve played, they’ve managed to go 5-3, 3-5, 4-2-1-1, and 4-4. And yet there is still room for improvement overall, especially with the specialty teams. This team is good enough to pull it back together and make a strong push to the playoffs. Now we just need to see them put it together on the ice and make it happen, starting this weekend in Iowa.
The ECHL recently announced two new expansion teams for the 2024-25 season, with Lake Tahoe joining the Mountain Division and Bloomington, Illinois getting into the Central, the home of the Nailers. How do you think this affects Wheeling moving forward in terms of conference and division standings, and do you think Wheeling should stay in the Central?
It’s always exciting to hear about a league doing well enough that expansion is an option. It’s a sign that the league is seen as something worth buying into, and this allows the ECHL to grow to 30 teams in the league, getting closer to matching up with the 32 teams at the NHL level to hopefully allow each team the chance to become an affiliate for a big-league squad. Also, it’s fun when you get to add places like Lake Tahoe, which could make for a fun trip for a team and their fans who hope to go on a trip out west to the California/Nevada border town, or Bloomington, who fits perfectly into the division and should be able to quickly develop some regional rivalries, such as with the Indy Fuel (who are owned by the same group buying the team in Bloomington).
As for the Nailers, this obviously makes it more difficult to earn a playoff spot starting next season, as they will now be competing with seven other teams for only four spots, compared to competing with only six teams this year for the same number of openings. This also leads to a conference imbalance, as the Western conference (with the Mountain and Central divisions) will now have 16 teams compared to the Eastern conference (made up of the North and South divisions), which will be made up of just 14 teams. That being said, there really isn’t another division that fits the Nailers much better. If they were to be put into the North division in the East, Wheeling would have to travel to Worchester, Maine, and Newfoundland for divisional games, which is considerably further than Iowa and Kalamazoo (or even Bloomington) are. Despite it being harder for Wheeling to secure a playoff spot than if they stayed in a seven-team division, the Central is the best spot for the Nailers, and I look forward to seeing them take on the new guys on the block when they join the league next season.
With the Nailers on the road for the next two weeks, how do you plan to get your fix of hockey during this time?
Boy, I really will miss the chance to get to see some live hockey action at Wesbanco Arena over the next couple of weeks. Anyone who knows me knows just how much I really do enjoy watching hockey, and getting to watch it live is absolutely a thrill that we should take advantage of as much as possible with it being right here in our hometown.
Despite them being on the road, I still plan on following along with what’s happening with the Nailers thanks to their radio broadcasts. My good friend DJ Abisalih does an absolutely masterful job of painting the picture of what’s happening on the ice while adding some great color to the stories behind the game (despite what some “fans” out in Indy may think of our Little Ball of Emotion), and I really enjoy getting to listen to him explain the ebbs and flows of the action.
I’m also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins (obviously), so if I really need to see a hockey game and get a feel for some on-ice action visually, I can always turn their game on the TV and watch it. No matter what, I plan on staying up to date with some good hockey action during this extended absence of my favorite local team from home.
