The Nailers split two more games with Worcester this past weekend, losing Saturday before winning in overtime on Sunday. What could Wheeling have done better to maximize their points from these games?
Well, when you’re on the road in the division, sometimes you have to be happy getting two out of four points. Those are meant to be the most difficult games on your schedule each year. It’s not exactly preferential to allow your win to go to overtime so your division opponent gets the loser point and takes three out of four, but at least it wasn’t against Trois-Rivières or Norfolk, the teams who are closest to Wheeling in the standings. Even after these games, the Nailers still enjoy a 16-point lead over the Railers, so it’s still ok at this point, as long as they don’t get too much closer than that.
The story of the game on Saturday was special teams, as Worcester’s power play unit was on fire and went 3-for-4 in the contest, with their first tally coming just one minute into the game. Wheeling was able to answer just over four minutes later, with Matt Koopman lighting the lamp, and the first period ended tied at one. The Railers found the net behind Sergei Murashov early in the second period to take the lead once more before Wheeling’s power play group got their only marker of the night on four attempts of their own thanks to Atley Calvert to tie things once more. Worcester’s man-advantage group broke the tie again less than two minutes later, but Wheeling got another marker with just over two minutes left in the second from Chris Ortiz and the game was tied going into the third.
Things were even until Ortiz took a cross-checking minor, and the Railers power play group found the net one last time nine minutes into the frame, but Wheeling was unable to respond this time, and Worcester came away with the victory.
Sunday’s game featured a lot of offensive pressure on both sides, with the two teams combining for 24 shots on goal in the first period alone. Yet neither team was able to tickle the twine, and the period ended with zeroes still showing on the scoreboard. The second period was going along the same way, until David Jankowski tipped in a shot from distance and gave Wheeling their first lead of the weekend. That lead lasted less than five minutes before Worcester managed to tie the game. But the Nailers weren’t ready to give up their lead that quickly, and a little more than a minute after that goal, Matty De St. Phalle managed to knock one in to give Wheeling the lead, which they held through the end of the period. The third period started even better for the Nailers, as Chris Ortiz extended the lead to two just over six minutes in on the power play.
It looked like Wheeling was going to hold it there, but the Railers managed to score two goals within the last five minutes of regulation to tie the game and force overtime where Matt Koopman scored less than a minute into extra time to get the Nailers the extra point.
The Nailers now play three at home this weekend against Kansas City. What does Wheeling need to do to perform well against a very strong Mavericks team?
Kansas City comes to town with the most road victories of any team in the ECHL this season with 15 in 21 games played away from home. Conversely, the Nailers come in with a very impressive record at home this year, coming into the weekend with a 13-2-1 record at WesBanco Arena. So obviously something has to give between these two teams.
The most impressive part of how the Mavericks have done away from home this season is just how bad their specialty teams have been on the road. Their power play is one of the worst performing groups in the league when on the road, sitting in 26th place in the league with a 14.3% success rate. The penalty kill is slightly better, but not by much, currently in 22nd place in the 29-team league on the road with a 77.8% success rate. Meanwhile, Wheeling’s power play is fourth-best at home this year, while the penalty kill is 11th at home coming into the weekend. With how often their penalty kill group gets to work (KC averages 14.36 minutes in penalties a game compared to the 9.53 Wheeling averages), you would think the Mavericks would be better when shorthanded. The Nailers absolutely have to find a way to take advantage of this to see success this weekend.
Another thing I like to look at is records when scoring first because it shows just how important that early lead can be. For Kansas City, they have managed to score first in 22 of their 36 games (61.1%) thus far, earning a record of 18-2-1-1 for an 0.864 points percentage. For Wheeling, they’ve only tickled the twine first in 18 of their 36 games (50%) this year, but they have a 16-1-1 record in those games for a 0.917 points percentage. While the Nailers haven’t been as successful at scoring first, it shows they’re comfortable even if they have to play from behind, as is evidenced from the 10 wins they have after allowing the first goal of the game.
So don’t panic if KC manages to score first, but hope Wheeling is able to score after to keep it close.
The all-star teams were announced by the ECHL on Wednesday, and three Nailers (Sergei Murashov, Chris Ortiz, and Atley Calvert) were selected to represent Wheeling. How deserving of this honor are these players?
Boy, I find it hard to think of three more deserving players than these guys. All three have made significant contributions to help the Nailers earn their best first-half record in team history. If they are able to continue to play in Wheeling (more on that for one of them shortly) and continue to play at the level they have through the first 36 games, I have a feeling the Nailers might be sitting pretty as we get later in the year.
Murashov, in his first season in North America after being selected by the Penguins in the 2022 NHL entry draft, is having one of the best seasons a rookie goaltender has ever had to this point. He has posted a 15-3-1 record, including a 13-game winning streak and 15-game point streak, with a 2.41 goals-against average and 0.919 save percentage. He has quickly adapted his game to the changes from playing a more international style over in Russia, and he has proven that he has what it takes to play this sport at this level and beyond. In two games in the AHL (thus far), he has a 2-0-0 record with a 2.50 goals-against average and identical 0.919 save percentage that he has here in Wheeling.
After playing last season in Trois-Rivières, Ortiz returned to Wheeling for his third season in a Nailers uniform. Chris currently leads all ECHL defensemen in points with 36 and assists with 31. It’s rather impressive to have a defenseman averaging a point per game or more, as he has his 36 points in just 34 games played for a 1.06 points-per-game average. Even more impressive is how, despite his proclivity for offense, Chris has managed to play a strong two-way game, making a number of plays in the defensive zone to help create the offense, as well as being strong at his own blue line against attackers to force dump-ins or turnovers.
I look forward to seeing what he continues to do as we move into the second half of the year.
Like Murashov, Calvert comes into the league this year as a rookie, joining the team after playing for the Moose Jaw Warriors the past five seasons. Atley is another guy producing at a point-per-game pace, with 36 points in 36 games played, tied for third most points by a rookie this year, along with his 22 assists being third-most in the ECHL (currently trailing league-leader Jack Beck, also from the Nailers, who has 25 assists on the season). Calvert, along with Beck and Matty De St. Phalle, have become one of the best lines in the league this year where all three players are rookies in the league. I look forward to watching these players continue to grow together in their first professional seasons, as they continue to get more comfortable with the game and put forth strong efforts night in and night out.
Speaking of Sergei Murashov, he got reassigned on Tuesday by the Pittsburgh Penguins to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. How does this move affect the Nailers goalie situation?
Well then. Just like that, there he goes, off for another opportunity to show what he has at a higher level. It’s moments like this that it sucks just a bit to be a developmental league. You love to hear that a guy who has shown this level of skill and ability with Wheeling will get a chance to showcase what he has at a higher level. And trust me, if you watch the NHL club this year, you know that, between Jarry and Nedeljkovic, the big club could use a player of this skill. My only hope is that, with this callup (assuming it lasts longer than a week or so), he isn’t relegated to backup status and only gets starts here and there. He deserves the chance to play more often, and I would hate to have a young man like that relegated to the end of the bench (or press box, since WBS currently has three goalies on the roster) on a nightly basis.
Wait, what’s that? Oh, that’s right. Our new option to start between the pipes is the reigning ECHL goaltender of the year who had a career year last season with the Nailers in Taylor Gauthier. Gauthier sometimes found ways to single-handedly keep Wheeling in games last year as the team in front of him scrambled at times. He appeared calm, cool, and collected in net, moving gracefully to get in positions to make saves and showed excellent rebound control.
And on the nights Gauthier not available, we also have Jaxon Castor behind him, who, despite not getting a ton of playing time this year after being stuck behind those two studs, has accumulated a 3-1-1 record with a 2.39 goals-against average and 0.908 save percentage. Sometimes it’s nice to have a plethora of strong players at your disposal, and I feel like this is one of the deepest rosters I’ve seen in Wheeling in a very long time.
While it hurts to lose such a good player, it helps when you have such good depth below him to keep things moving forward in his absence.
Saturday’s game against Kansas City is 80’s Night at WesBanco Arena. As someone who was born in the early/mid 80’s, how much fun do you think this evening will be?
As a child of the eighties, many of my formative years were spent in that decade. I remember the big hair rock and rollers, the birth and growth of MTV (BRING BACK MUSIC VIDEOS), and all of the pop culture moments that contributed to, in my opinion, one of the best decades in history, and not just because I joined the world during that time.
Of course, at that time, there was no professional hockey in Wheeling yet, as the then-Thunderbirds didn’t make the move to the Friendly City until 1992. That’s another event I’ll never forget in my life, as I came down to Wheeling for their first game in the city, which was my first experience at a live hockey game. And from that moment on, I was absolutely hooked on watching it in person as much as I could. Times have obviously changed and sometimes it’s more difficult to get there, but those moments shaped me as a hockey fan, and for that I’m truly thankful.
As for this event, I think it should be a very fun night. The music of the decade was influential in shaping where music would go in future generations. Tribute band Tongue N’ Cheek will perform a concert after the game for fans in attendance, and I’m sure the building will be absolutely hopping all night.
I look forward to being there myself for this game, and I hope to see you all there as well.
