(0-0) The Nailers went on the road and played a perfect road game until late, then went on to lose in overtime to Toledo. What went wrong in game one?
It really did feel like the Nailers were playing the perfect road playoff game. They made sure to keep the game in front of them, worked hard to get to their gameplan, and kept Toledo from getting too many good scoring chances. This is helpful in a game one of a series to hopefully set a tone for how the games will go, especially against a team coming in having won their last 18 games (dating back to the regular season).
The first period started off slow, with both teams trying to get a feel for how the other is looking to play. With these two teams only matching up four times in the regular season (only once in this calendar year coming into this series), there wasn’t the usual level of familiarity between these two longstanding rivals. Despite the two teams combining for 14 shots in the first period (eight for Wheeling compared to six for Toledo), neither team had much in the way of scoring chances and the first period ended with both teams still searching for the first goal of the series.
The second period was a little more hospitable to the visiting Nailers. They outshot the Walleye 11-6 in the period and had a number of good scoring chances. Finally, with about seven and a half minutes left in the frame, Jordan Martel scored his team-leading fifth goal of the playoffs to break the ice and give Wheeling the lead, silencing the crowd of over 8,000 Walleye fans. The goal was set up on a fantastic pass from captain Justin Addamo on a 2-on-1, and Wheeling was off and running. They were just 20 minutes away from earning a huge road victory.
The third period went almost the exact opposite from the second, with Toledo completely controlling play to the tune of a 17-2 shot advantage in the period. Despite that, Wheeling was able to hang tough, getting the puck and sending it in deep into the Walleye zone, then changing out for fresh skaters. Keeping a rotation going to have fresh guys out there helped out a lot for the most part, until with just over five minutes left in the game, a bad turnover in the defensive zone gave Toledo a scoring opportunity that they were able to cash in on and tie the game. The Walleye continued to push to attempt to win before the extra frame, but Jaxon Castor made some really good saves down the stretch to extend the game to extra time.
In the extra frame, Toledo was given a power play just two minutes into the period on a slightly iffy call on Louie Roehl, but the penalty kill group came up big and kept the game going beyond that. Finally, just past halfway through the overtime period, former Nailer Brandon Hawkins scored on his game-high 13th shot of the game to give the Walleye their 19th win in a row and ruin a fantastic effort by the visiting Wheeling squad.
(1-0 TOL) The Nailers just couldn’t get out of their own way in game two, falling to the Walleye for the second game in a row. How did Wheeling let this one get away?
Boy, the Nailers just couldn’t catch a break in this one. Every time it felt like Wheeling was going to find a way to get the momentum on their side, Toledo would find a way to one-up it and get it back in their advantage. The Nailers managed to get it back to a one-goal difference twice in the game, but just couldn’t keep the advantage with them, and the Walleye managed to make them pay when they needed to.
The first period was the absolute anthesis of the first period in game one, with both teams getting 14 shots on goal each, as opposed to combining for that total the night before. Toledo was able to capitalize first just seven and a half minutes into game two, and despite a number of chances, Wheeling just couldn’t find that equalizer right away. The Walleye tried to put some space between themselves and the Nailers with an insurance goal, but Jaxon Castor made some strong saves to keep it a one-goal game until, with under three minutes to play, Justin Lee got his second of the postseason to pull the game even. Wheeling needed to keep their foot on the gas, but Toledo found a way to sneak back in and get the lead once again just 37 seconds later, and the first period ended with the Walleye in front by a goal.
The second period was a lot of back-and-forth action as well, with shots in the frame ending at 16 for Toledo compared to 10 for Wheeling. Just four minutes into the period, the Walleye were able to strike again to extend their lead to two, and you had to hope that the Nailers could keep it that way as Toledo continued to push in the hopes of increasing their lead even more. Finally, with about seven minutes left in the period, Isaac Belliveau deposited the puck into the Toledo goal to bring it back to a one-goal difference with plenty of time left to pull back to even, but less than three minutes later, the Walleye cashed in once more to get their lead back to two in time for the horn to signal the end of the frame.
The third period saw a little bit of a push by Wheeling to get back into the game. The guys on the bench knew they needed to score early enough to give them time to get one more to try to tie it up and go to another overtime for the second night in a row. That goal came off the stick of Lee, his second of the game, and pulled the Nailers back to within one with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. Despite some strong play by both teams, the goaltenders were up to the task until, with the Wheeling net empty for a 6-on-5 advantage, Toledo scored again with less than a minute remaining on the clock, and suddenly the Nailers were coming home in a 2-0 hole in the series.
(2-0 TOL) The Nailers returned home and were in game three late, but let it slip away again. What did Wheeling do to give this game away?
If the first two games were hard skating and good playoff hockey, this game was a little more Wild West than you might hope for, especially when playing a team with such a strong power play unit. A total of 10 penalties were called in the game, with six of those going against the Nailers giving Toledo a total of five power play opportunities, of which they managed to cash in three times. That, combined with the 0-for-3 on the man advantage for Wheeling added up to a 3-0 hole for the good guys before this weekend’s games.
The first period started quickly, with Toledo getting the first goal for the second game in a row, this time just under three minutes into the game. Going into a hole that early isn’t necessarily a killer for a home team, but it can take the wind out of the sails of the fans and lower the energy in the building. Wheeling tried to make a push to get it back to even, but a penalty on Jordan Frasca sent the Toledo power play team on the ice, where they scored another goal to extend their lead to two. Just 41 seconds after that goal, another penalty on Justin Addamo put the Walleye on the power play again, but this time, it was the Nailers who capitalized, with Matt Koopman getting a shorthanded goal to bring it back to within one. As time ticked down in the period to under two minutes, it felt like that would be all for the period, but Toledo managed to get another puck in behind Jaxon Castor, who was having one of the rougher games he’s had in a Nailers jersey, and just like that, the score was 3-1 in time for the period to end.
The second period felt like a repeat of the first, with Toledo cashing in just three and a half minutes into the frame with yet another power play tally to push the score to 4-1. Wheeling managed to stop the bleeding and bring it back to a two-goal deficit off the stick of David Drake, but another power play marker by the Walleye just four minutes after Drake’s goal made it 5-2, and Castor’s night came to an early end as Garret Sparks (who, funny enough, I actually got to see play in person when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Pens) entered the game and proceeded to make a few good saves to keep the game as close as possible until Matthew Quercia got his first goal of the postseason with five minutes to go to make it 5-3 heading into the third period.
In that final frame, Wheeling was given the perfect opportunity to get back into it with a penalty called on Toledo seven minutes into the period, but the power play group couldn’t capitalize, and it remained a two-goal game as time ticked by. Feeling the pressure of wanting to avoid falling into a 3-0 series hole and needing to win four in a row to advance, Coach Derek Army decided to pull Sparks extremely early, with almost three minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been a very strong position for the Nailers this year, as DJ Abisalih pointed out during the broadcast. Wheeling has surrendered 12 goals this season with the empty net compared to just one goal for, and this game turned out to be the same, as Toledo managed to score not one, but two empty netters coming down the stretch to put the Nailers on the brink of elimination going into game four.
With the Nailers now behind 3-0 in the series, how can Wheeling find a way to get back into the series before the Walleye move on to the Western Conference Finals?
Well, as my dad told me on a number of occasions growing up, you can’t win four without winning your first one. At this point, the Nailers have absolutely nothing to lose. If they do lose game four, they’re out, so it won’t matter beyond that. If they find a way to jump up and get one over on Toledo, then it goes to another, and they can’t win four without winning their second one. That really needs to be the mantra at this point: Just this one.
The Nailers last made the playoffs in 2022, beating Fort Wayne in seven games before getting swept by Toledo in the Division Finals. I’d really like to not lose eight playoff games in a row to these bums from Turd Town (thank you Mr. Novotney for that wonderful nickname). The Nailers have to go out and play for this one game, this one period, this one shift. Every time on the ice is a chance to push the game and really take advantage. I still believe Wheeling can make this a series, if not outright win it and advance. It’s happened before, and it will happen again, and there’s no reason to think it can’t happen here. Give the Walleye their first loss of the postseason, then come back out and do it again, and who knows what happens if it goes back to Toledo. You just have to believe.
If this is indeed the end of the road for the Nailers, do you consider this season a success?
I will say this: It’ll be a little disappointing to see this team go out like that after everything they had to work through to get to this point.
Having it all come down to those last few days of the season to even clinch a playoff spot. The team record tying 12-game winning streak that ended up being more important than we all thought it would be at the time. All of the roster turnover and seeing what you had with the players who stepped in and kept things flowing and pushed this team back into the postseason after missing the playoffs last year. It would definitely sting a bit to have it all end this quickly.
That all being said, I still think you have to view this through the lens of this being a developmental league, and just how much the players developed who played for the Nailers this year. Wheeling was lucky enough to get to see the best goalie in the entire league wear their sweater this season. A number of guys from the team were able to move up to the AHL throughout the year and contribute at that level and show they had to skill to play in that league.
And honestly, despite the fact that it would suck to lose him, I think Coach Army has shown the skill as a coach to be given the opportunity to expand his skills in a bigger league. If this is the end of the road for this season’s version of the Wheeling Nailers, I’ll still be proud of what they were able to do this year, and I’ll be there every step of the way to cheer them on until that final horn blows. I hope you all make it there to cheer them on too.
