(0-0) The Nailers went on the road to start the playoffs, losing game 1 to the Fuel. What went wrong in this game to cause Wheeling to fall behind in the series early?
After how poorly the regular season went for the Nailers against the Fuel, it had to be expected that Wheeling would struggle with Indy at some point in this series. And the fact that it happened in the first game gave them enough time to get over it and bounce back to avoid falling too far behind in the series overall. While you never want to lose a game in the playoffs, game one can be seen as the “feeling out” game, so a loss there isn’t quite as detrimental as some others could be.
The first period of game one was completely owned by Indy, as they outshot the Nailers 16-4 in the frame and maintained puck possession and pressure to the point that Wheeling found it tough to exit their own zone at times. The only bright spot of the period for the Nailers was probably Jaxon Castor between the pipes, who made 15 saves in the period, with the only goal being scored during a Fuel power play. Aside from that, Castor made several strong plays to keep his team in it through the end of the period.
The second period started off much stronger for the Nailers, who came out firing and finally found the back of the net just over a minute into the frame thanks to a hard slapshot off the stick of Davis Bunz to tie the score. Unfortunately, the rest of the period belonged to Indy, who managed to score just four minutes after Bunz drew things back to even, then pumped another into the cage less than a minute later to give themselves a two-goal edge. One more Fuel goal with just over seven minutes left in the frame capped things off and, when the horn sounded, Indy found themselves with a 4-1 lead and the game well in hand.
Neither team could take full control of the game in the third, but with the score where it was, it didn’t really matter. Wheeling did manage to get one more on the board on a 4-on-3 power play with eight minutes left in regulation thanks to Dillon Hamaliuk which brought it back to within two, but Indy earned one more goal with less than four minutes remaining, and when the horn sounded, the Fuel skated away with the series lead after a 5-2 victory.
(1-0 IND) Game two was played the night after game one, with the Nailers finding a way to tie the series up with Indy. How did Wheeling find a way to turn it into a best-of-five series?
After how the game played out the night before, you had to assume the Nailers would come out with a real fire to try and get back into the series. Generally, a team going down 2-0 in a series isn’t exactly a death knell, but it’s very hard to dig yourself out of it. Especially when you’ve struggled to win games in the other team’s building this season, as Wheeling has in games played out in Indy.
Despite Indy working hard to earn the first goal for the second night in a row, it wouldn’t work out for them thanks to another strong performance from Jaxon Castor. Then, just over six minutes into the period, Matt Koopman gave the Nailers their first lead of the series on a strong play on a rebound. It turned into a bit of a back-and-forth affair from there until Wheeling received their second power play of the game with ten seconds left in the period, and with only four seconds left on the clock in the period, Evan Vierling managed to push another puck into the net to make it a 2-0 Nailers lead when the horn sounded.
Wheeling was one of the best second period teams all year in the regular season, and it held true in this game as well. The Nailers managed to net four goals in the period, including two from leading goal scorer in the regular season, Jordan Martel, only 21 second apart, and the rout was on. Goals by Justin Lee and Jared Westcott just over a minute apart late in the period made it a 6-0 game and put Wheeling only 20 minutes away from tying the series coming home.
You could tell the third period was merely a formality as both teams had a couple chances, but nothing really seemed that urgent. The Nailers did manage to get their seventh goal of the game thanks to the second goal of the game by Evan Vierling just before the midpoint of the period on the power play before Indy broke up the shutout bid on their own power play thanks to former Nailer Cam Hausinger, but it was too little, too late as Wheeling managed to keep that score through the final horn and left the ice with the series back to square one.
(1-1) Game three was the first game played at home for the Nailers this postseason, with Wheeling earning a big win. How did the Nailers take the lead in the series?
With how lopsided the first two games of this series were, it made sense that this game would be much more evenly matched and come down to the wire. I’ve noticed over the years of watching hockey that series like these tend to even themselves out somewhat, and this game turned out to be exactly what I expected. Especially when the series is tied at this point, game three turns out to be make or break rather often, so both teams wanted to come out strong and take the series lead again.
The ice was tilted in favor of the Nailers in the first period, as they managed to outshoot the Fuel 12-5 over the first 20 minutes. Neither team was able to find the back of the net until just over eight minutes left in the frame, as Isaac Belliveau earned his first playoff goal of his professional career to put the home team up in the game and send the fans in attendance into a fervor. Neither team could get much going in the way of offense the rest of the way, and the period ended with the score still 1-0 Wheeling.
The second period was tilted just as much, but in the other direction, as Indy managed to outshoot the Nailers 17-8 in the middle frame. Right around midway through the game, Indy finally broke through and deposited the puck behind Jaxon Castor to tie the game back up, but with less than five minutes left on the clock, Davis Bunz restored the lead for Wheeling. With the Nailers enjoying the lead after 40 minutes played, you just knew the Fuel would come out firing in an attempt to bring the game back in their direction.
Wheeling was able to withstand the Indy onslaught for the majority of the third period. The Fuel outshot Wheeling in the period 11-4 (and had a 33-24 shot advantage in regulation), but Castor was playing just as strong as he did coming down the stretch of the regular season and through the first two games of this series. Unfortunately, Indy was able to find one crack in his armor and took advantage of it to tie the game with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation. With the score tied and the series lead hanging in the balance, the Fuel continued their onslaught, but Castor and the defense stood tall once again and found a way to force the game to overtime where, just 30 seconds into extra time on the first shot of the overtime period, Justin Addamo netted his first goal of the postseason and gave Wheeling the series lead heading into game four the next night.
(2-1 WHL) Game four was the fourth game played between Wheeling and Indy in five nights, with the Nailers winning another big game. How did they jump on the Fuel and come away with another huge victory?
Well, it’s not exactly optimal to have what could have essentially been your entire series decided in less days than I spend at work in a week. To have four games played in five days, with the one day off being spent on a bus for five plus hours traveling between cities, doesn’t exactly portend both teams being at their optimal levels in that last game. And while I’m not saying that either team didn’t put everything they could out on the ice, their tanks had to be running pretty low by the time the third period rolled around, so it has to be somewhat understandable that there wasn’t much big-time action in this one.
The first period was probably the slowest period they had played in the entire series to that point, as both teams combined for only 12 shots on goal (Wheeling ended up with the lead in that category 7-5). The Nailers were the only team able to find the back of the net in the frame, as Jordan Martel pocketed his third goal of the postseason, this time on the power play, to put Wheeling on top with under seven minutes left in the period. Neither team had much going for them the rest of the way, and the horn sounded to end the frame with the Nailers in the lead.
The second period was more of what you saw in the first, with both teams getting seven shots on goal in the frame and neither team getting very many high danger chances. Both goalies were making the plays they needed to make to keep the score where it was until Martel showed up again, once again on the power play, and extended the Wheeling lead to 2-0 with under six minutes remaining. Once again, Indy just didn’t have the pushback needed to try to get back into it before the horn, and the Nailers took that lead into the final 20 minutes of the game.
The final period of hockey in Wesbanco Arena for this series (game five is scheduled to be played in Cranberry on Saturday due to a schedule conflict at the arena over the weekend) was a little more explosive in more ways than one. Both teams were able to put nine shots on goal each, so the keepers were a little more active than they had been through 40 minutes. Jaxon Castor played possibly his most complete game of the series to this point and kept the puck in front of him all night, despite a push from Indy to try to tie the game when they pulled their goalie late. But Wheeling was able to get possession, and David Jankowski iced it with his first professional playoff goal into the empty net to put the game out of reach. Then, as the final horn sounded, a dirty play led to Matt Cairns of the Fuel apparently getting into a fight with himself (as he was the only player penalized with a fighting major according to the official stats of the game) and two other players from Indy received 10-minute misconduct calls after time had expired, with hopefully supplemental discipline coming from the league. With any luck, this won’t carry over into what we can only hope is the final game of the series (and the final game of the season for Indy) on Saturday, but it wouldn’t surprise me if their frustration gets the better of the Fuel players.
The Nailers are now firmly in the driver’s seat of the series, leading three games to one, forcing the Fuel to win all three of the remaining games to hope to advance. What does Wheeling need to do in Cranberry on Saturday to finish this series off strong and not have to go back to Indy?
As I said, playing four games in five days isn’t exactly optimal for good hockey. So, hopefully with a few days off before this series goes back on the “road” for a Wheeling home game (thanks to the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for being available to be our home away from home), both teams can rest up and get ready to play some good hockey. And with that, hopefully the Nailers can go up there and finish this thing off and get ready for the winner of the Toledo-Kalamazoo series (the Walleye lead 3-0 with game 4 scheduled for Friday night).
The most important thing for the Nailers in this game will be to not feed into the nonsense I’m sure the Fuel will try to do in this game. You saw at the end of game four how their frustrations are bubbling to the surface and threatening to take over. They were one of the most penalized teams in the league in the regular season, and they’re trying to maintain that lead here in the postseason. I say, let them. Let them play with too much emotion, let them get out of position, let them beat themselves. If you are a Wheeling player, your main task is to get to your own game and play within your system. That system has gotten you to a 3-1 series lead and the opportunity to advance. Use it to your advantage, let the Fuel lose their heads and cost themselves their postseason, and work hard. It’s time to finish this thing off and get ready for an even harder series against your biggest rival in the division finals. Let’s get up there and support these guys and show them that we want more playoff hockey here in the Friendly City come next week.
