The Nailers swept the weekend against Indy, winning 2-1 in a shootout on Friday before taking Saturday’s game 5-2. What went well for Wheeling in those two games?
I bet it feels nice to get a couple victories over the team you went 3-6-2 against last season, including losing the first three of the season against them. For some reason, the Fuel always seem to give the Nailers fits (even though we did eliminate them from the playoffs last year in five games, so I guess we got our revenge after all). I feel like no longer being in the same division (or conference) as Indy took some of the pressure off of these games because they’re no longer four-point swing games, and Wheeling was able to get to their game a bit better.
It definitely didn’t start off well, with Indy scoring the first goal of the weekend just 19 seconds into the first game, followed by a big fight between the goal scorer and Matt Quercia. The Fuel continued to push to attempt to stretch their lead, but Sergei Murashov stood tall and kept the score 1-0 after the first. The Nailers came out with a fire in their belly in the second looking to get back into it and took two quick penalties that could’ve swung the game back towards Indy, but they still couldn’t get back on the board. Finally, with just over three minutes left in the frame, Quercia blasted a one-timer into the Indy cage to tie it back up.
The third period was a back-and-forth affair, but neither team could do much of anything, and the game went to extra time. The overtime was overly dominated by Wheeling, getting an 8-2 shot advantage in the frame, but it still wasn’t to be, and the game went to the skills competition. Only one player, Jack Beck of the Nailers, was able to find the net, and the Nailers skated away with the extra point.
Saturday’s game was a tale of three distinct periods. The first period was carried by the Nailers, scoring three times on just 11 shots, starting just five minutes in thanks to Kyle Jackson, followed by David Jankowski and Atley Calvert late in the period to give Wheeling the definitive lead after the first. The second swung much harder back towards Indy, who had a 12-4 advantage in shots and a 2-0 advantage in goals in the frame, leading to the Nailers only having a one-goal lead going to the last 20 minutes.
The third period saw the Fuel once again lead in shots in the frame 8-4, but they couldn’t find the net behind Jaxon Castor again. With just over six minutes left in regulation, Jackson once again buried one to restore the Nailer advantage to two and, with the Indy goaltender pulled late, Sam Houde put the puck in the cage to help Wheeling take all four points on the weekend and leapfrog over Norfolk, who went winless for the weekend against Toledo, for first in the North Division.
The Nailers now have the only weekend all season with just one game, a Saturday tilt on the road at Fort Wayne. How can Wheeling keep their winning streak alive?
I hope the guys on the team are able to appreciate this weekend. Pretty soon, they’ll be busy with three game weekends, four games in five days, and the prospect of having to join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at a moment’s notice when needed. A season in the ECHL may seem long, playing 72 games over the course of six months (plus playoffs, if you’re lucky enough to make it), but it goes quickly once you get into the meat of it, so having a weekend with just one game is a luxury at any point in the season.
As for the game, Fort Wayne comes in sitting in second place in the Central Division, only one point behind Toledo, but has played one less game than the Walleye. The Komets have played just four games at home, going 3-1 in those games, and they have the fourth best power play at home, scoring four times on 13 attempts for a 30.8% success rate. Luckily, the Nailers are one of the least penalized teams in the league this season, averaging just 8.67 minutes in penalties per game, while Fort Wayne is fourth highest in that category, averaging 18.50 minutes per game.
If Wheeling can get to the power play and take advantage of it, which they have managed to do four times in 20 attempts in road games this year, the Nailers could find themselves bringing home another victory.
As for individual players, Fort Wayne has two players (Kyle Mayhew and Odeen Tufto) currently within the top ten in the league in points, while Jackson leads the ECHL in power play assists. Staying out of the box could be paramount to the success of Wheeling in this game. In addition to them, rookie Brett Brochu has been between the pipes eight times this year for the Komets, going 6-1 with a 2.12 goals-against average and 0.919 save percentage.
The Nailers will need to start strong and pepper him early to hopefully knock him off his game to earn the two points in this one.
The Nailers haven’t lost a game in regulation since a 3-2 loss to Toledo back on November 1, a streak of seven games with at least one point. What have they been able to do over that time to maintain that streak?
Any time a team is able to have a streak during a season of at least earning points in every game, it’s valuable in the long run. Last season, Wheeling had a few longer streaks of games where they earned points, including a 12-game winning streak, and every point ended up being necessary to help the Nailers ensure they stayed in playoff position. Having a chance to bank points early in the year that could come in handy later in the year like this is why every game matters during a hockey season.
I know I’ve mentioned this a few times already this year, but it’s really a great sign that the Nailers are getting contributions from up and down the lineup. To this point, 15 players have contributed at least one goal, and five players on the roster are at 10 points or more. I’m also impressed by the fact that there is only one player who is a minus on the season right now, and even he is just a -1. That tells me your team is focused on defense and turning it into offense and keeping the puck away from their opponent.
If the Nailers continue to play this way, I have no question they can continue to earn standings points and stay towards the top of the division standings.
The Nailers pulled off an early season trade on Wednesday, sending Jared Westcott to Bloomington for future considerations. How could this shakeup affect gameday roster choices moving forward?
While it feels rather early to be seeing too many roster moves occur like this, I suppose it’s not unheard of. Seeing the team trade away a younger guy who came in here late last year and provided a spark for a roster that needed it for the push for the playoffs is a bit surprising. Seeing that all they brought back was future considerations shows me just how strong management thinks this roster already is and can be.
Westcott joined the Nailers last season after finishing his final season at Lake Superior State University scoring 36 points in just 38 games. He then came to Wheeling and was able to contribute another six points (four goals and two assists) in six games in the regular season, then appeared in six playoff games with one goal to his record. So far this year, he had only found his way onto the ice four times, earning two assists in those games.
While it would be nice to see him continue to contribute in the black and gold, hopefully this move to the expansion Bloomington Bison gives him more playing time and a chance to show what he can do.
Next Wednesday (Thanksgiving Eve), the Nailers will welcome Toledo back to town and also welcome the wrestlers of IWC Wrestling back as well. Are you excited for all of the hard-hitting action both on the ice and in the front lobby?
I have to admit, in case you can’t tell, I am a wrestling fan from back in the old WWF days who fell off for a while but got back into it when AEW came onto the scene. Since then, I may not be able to watch it every week, but I do try to set aside time to keep up on what’s happening in their storylines. I always explain my interest in professional wrestling as enjoying a soap opera with slightly more violence, so if you know someone who loves their mid-day stories, don’t judge those of us who enjoy rasslin’.
While I will definitely enjoy getting the chance to catch some live wrestling action before the game (which was surprisingly fun last season when they were at Wesbanco Arena), the game on the ice shouldn’t lack for wrestling level storylines and drama as well. The Walleye and Nailers are currently both in the top five in the ECHL league-wide standings, and the hatred these two teams have developed over the years still shines through every time they meet.
I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of physical action before the game in the lobby, then even more on the ice during the 60 minutes of the game, hopefully featuring a big win for the hometown team. Get your tickets now so you can be there to see it in person too.
