The Nailers had one final game prior to their break last weekend, a 4-2 victory in Cincinnati over the Cyclones. What did Wheeling do well to achieve victory over Cincy and their high-powered offense?
With this victory, the Nailers moved to 3-1 against the Cyclones this season, their best record against a single opponent so far this year. That being said, they still have six games against Cincy the rest of the way, so it’s no time to rest on their laurels. In their only loss to Cincy so far this season, Wheeling gave up five goals, but have held the Cyclones to two goals or less in all three victories. That tells me just how important it is that Wheeling plays such strong defense against the Cyclones and keeps their extremely potent offense (they have the third-highest goal total in the entire ECHL, trailing only Idaho and Toledo) off the board.
The game began with a good amount of back-and-forth action, with neither team able to maintain control despite Wheeling taking a couple early penalties and giving Cincinnati’s power play some chances. Wheeling finally got their first chance with a man advantage of their own and took advantage, with Lukas Svejkovsky getting his seventh of the year to give the Nailers the 1-0 lead. After a couple more calls by the men in stripes, Wheeling found a way to earn a short-handed tally off the stick of Jordan Frasca to make it 2-0 for the road team through the end of the first period.
The Cyclones turned up the pressure in the second, outshooting the Nailers 17-12 and finally putting one in behind Taylor Gauthier just before the end of the period to make it a 2-1 game going into the final period. In the third period, Cincy got another goal just over a minute into it to make it 2-2 and give all the momentum to the home team.
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Wheeling held tight and maintained the score until an opportunity presented itself, with Dillon Hamaliuk breaking the tie and putting the Nailers ahead for good. The Nailers would get yet another power play a little later in the game (they earned a total of seven in the game to eight for the Cyclones) and would pot another with the advantage, this time off the stick of Jordan Martel to make the score the eventual final of 4-2 in favor of Wheeling.
I know I’ve harped on it a little bit this year, but getting good play out of their specialty teams will be the most important thing for this team in their bid to return to postseason play this year. While they have turned it around a little bit recently, this explosion from those groups really caused the result to be what it was and helped the Nailers stay ahead of the Cyclones in the standings.
Two power play goals in the same game can change the outcome drastically, as can killing off eight separate man advantage opportunities by your opponent. But earning a short-handed goal can be debilitating. Those three goals by the specialty teams really made the difference here, and I hope to see more of it in the future.
The Nailers returned to action on Wednesday with yet another trip to Indy, this time dropping a 1-0 decision to the Fuel. What happened in that game and how can Wheeling avoid a similar fate next time they face Indy?
Well, despite their recent run of good luck against Indy, apparently Indiana Farmers Coliseum is still a house of horrors for the Nailers, although this game wasn’t nearly as bad as some recent outings there. Wheeling simply couldn’t get enough pressure going against the Fuel, being outshot in the first period 11-3, with the only goal in the game coming in the first frame during an Indy power play due to Wheeling having too many men on the ice.
This was the second straight game the Nailers got called for that particular offense, which is something the bench really needs to be on the watch for to avoid having happen again in the future. Simple things like being aware of who is on the ice and who you’re replacing on the ice during a line change can help avoid taking these poor penalties and putting your team being the eight ball.
Wheeling never really felt completely out of the game despite how they were outplayed in the first period. They bounced back to outshoot the Fuel in the second period and had multiple chances on the man advantage, including a 5-on-3 early in the second period that they simply couldn’t take advantage of. The Nailer power play, which was so strong against Cincy prior to a few days off, went 0-for-4 in the game, while the Indy man-advantage group obviously had their only tally in five tries in the game.
The real backbreaker for Wheeling in the game came late when, during their big push to try and get back into the game, Louis Roehl took a five-minute major from cross-checking and a game misconduct which, in conjunction with a delay of game penalty against Justin Lee, sealed the fate of the Nailers on this night.
I think to avoid a similar fate the next time Wheeling has a chance to face Indy, they have to avoid making simple mistakes that cost them so dearly in this game. Stay engaged in the game from the bench and be aware of who should be on the ice when to avoid unnecessary penalties. Don’t be afraid to play a tough game that goes right up to the line, but don’t cross it so blatantly that the referee has no choice but to toss you out and hurt your team even worse by forcing them to shorten the bench.
I really do believe, aside from one game this season, Wheeling has been as good as or better than Indy every step of the way, and I personally can’t wait until they line up against one another again and they have a chance to show it.
Wheeling will play their final two games of 2023 at home Saturday and Sunday against Norfolk, their first games against them this season. What do the Nailers need to do to hopefully come away with four points?
Norfolk is a much better team this season than they were last year, currently sitting in second place in the North Division, only four points behind Adirondack for first. Last year, the Admirals were competing with Iowa for the worst record in the entire ECHL by the time the Nailers faced them for the first time that season.
With the Admirals coming in with so much strength this season, Wheeling will be best served by working hard to get to their game early, forcing Norfolk to play the way they want to play the game and keep them uncomfortable.
And I think this goes without saying, but the specialty teams will need to play possibly their best games of the season. Norfolk comes in with the third-best road power play in the entire league with a 27.0% success rate away from home, and the fifth-best overall with a 26.0% success rate on the year. Wheeling would be best served to play smart and keep that seriously strong group off the ice as much as possible. On the other side of the advantage game, Norfolk comes to town with the best overall penalty-kill group in the league, earning a kill on an amazing 86.2% of chances.
But on the road, their penalty kill is closer to the middle of the league at 12th overall, but they still have an 83.0% success rate. Wheeling’s power play is next to last in the entire league at home, only cashing in on 10.4% of their tries.
If the Nailers want to be successful this weekend, they will need to improve that drastically if they are given any chances. This really does feel like an important weekend for those groups to show they’re ready for what’s sure to be one of the hardest stretches of their season.
The ECHL All-Star weekend is two weeks away, with the All-Star Classic being played on January 15. The event will feature the host Savannah Ghost Pirates against a team of all-stars from the rest of the league. What player(s) from the Nailers deserve to be a part of the action that weekend?
I’m not a big fan personally of this format for the All-Star game. Last season, the game was hosted by Norfolk, and as I stated in the last question, they were absolutely dreadful heading into the break. However, due to the format, they were all playing in the game, while some players around the league didn’t make it into the festivities who really did deserve to be there. This year, Savannah is given the same opportunity despite being next to last in their own division and third from the bottom in the entire Eastern Conference, with a record currently of 9-15-3-1 for 22 standings points.
Yet, because of the format, all of their players will be a part of the weekend, while some players will once again find themselves on the outside looking in.
I would rather see the ECHL adopt the NHL model for the All-Star “games,” where they play 3-on-3 between divisions in the same conference, and the winning divisions then play one another for the overall title. Yes, it feels less like an actual game and more like a skills competition, but that’s what the overtime and shootout in a regular game feel like too, and this is supposed to be an event that’s just a fun time for the fans while recognizing the players who have excelled so far on the year.
Rather than putting out players who haven’t advanced their team, this would allow the league to recognize the guys who are truly worthy of the title of all-star.
But since this is what the ECHL is doing with their game, the spots available for the Nailers will be harder to come by, despite my belief there are a number of players worthy of the chance.
The one player who will absolutely be there from Wheeling will be Taylor Gauthier. He currently sits at or near the top of almost every statistical category for goaltenders in the league, and just watching him play, you can see the difference his play makes for his team. If he isn’t the starting goalie for the opposing team on January 15, I’ll be quite surprised.
Aside from Gauthier, there are other players who could make an argument that they should be there. Dillon Hamaliuk has earned 26 points in 24 games played this year, and his game has taken a noticeable leap this season in all three zones. Cedric Desruisseaux has been his normal strong self when with the Nailers this season, despite having a few stretches where he found himself in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
On the back end, Davis Bunz has looked the part of possibly the best defenseman on the team. He has played well during 5-on-5 play, but he’s really shown very well during his time on the ice on specialty teams as well. If the league finds themselves with space to take more than one player from Wheeling, these are the guys who should join Taylor on his trip to Savannah.
As the calendar flips to 2024, the Nailers find themselves in third place in the division before this weekend’s games, but just one point ahead of both Cincinnati and Iowa to stay in the playoff race. What should the fans be watching for to help cheer their team towards hopefully playing meaningful games the rest of the way?
As I said earlier, the Nailers need to take advantage of this weekend, the last games of 2023, to get ready as the schedule gets harder the rest of the way. For the next three months, Wheeling has a number of stretches where they will play three games in three days, or four games in five days, and they play tough opponent after tough opponent.
Three games in Orlando against the Solar Bears await the Nailers on the other side of the new year, followed by two more games against Indy and one against Kalamazoo before the all-star game. If you are Wheeling, you have to make sure your game is on point now, because finding time to practice and fine-tune things when you’re going through the dog days of your schedule comes at a premium.
As for those of us in the stands, we need to be there for the team and give them the energy to push through the meat of their schedule. We will get to see a number of good teams make their way through the Friendly City, including a lot of games against division rivals that we will be competing with to stay in the top four and within the playoff picture.
Last season, things got away from the Nailers when the calendar hit late January and into February, and that ended up costing them dearly at the end of the year and kept them from Kelly Cup contention. This year, I want to see even more fans in the building, pushing the team to keep fighting their way through games and earning the points necessary to stay in the race. I really do believe, from seeing what this team has done thus far, that they can do it this year and be the team that brings that elusive championship back to Wheeling.
They just need us there to help push them over the hump. I hope to see you all there doing just that.
