The Nailers kept rolling with three wins this past weekend, two at home against Kalamazoo and Reading with a road victory over Cincinnati. What did Wheeling do to earn these six huge points?
Well, things are certainly starting to get exciting now, if they weren’t before. With these victories, the Nailers are now off to their best 20-game start in team history. Not only that, but the different ways the team won their games last weekend makes me believe this is sustainable through the rest of the season.
The game on Friday started with Kalamazoo coming out and taking the lead in the first period. Wheeling pressed but couldn’t net one of their own until early in the second period when Kyle Jackson scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1, which held through the rest of the frame. Just before the halfway point of the third, the K-Wings once again cashed in to take the lead before the Nailer power play took advantage of a double minor called on Kalamazoo and Jordan Martel, the man bloodied by the high stick, tied the game once again.
As the game got later, both teams pushed until, with just under three minutes left, Sam Houde launched a one-timer that broke the tie. The K-Wings pulled their goalie to try to tie it, but Jagger Joshua sealed the victory with an empty netter.
Saturday’s game against the Cyclones was rather one-sided early, with the Nailers taking the shot advantage in the first by a 12-4 margin, and the lead on the scoreboard at 2-0 thanks to some strong forechecking by Wheeling leading to turnovers that ended up in the Cyclones net off the sticks of Matty De St. Phalle and Jagger Joshua.
The rest of the game was very defensively focused, with each team managing to kill off a power play against in the second, and the score stayed where it was until four minutes into the third period when Justin Lee managed to pot one and extend the Wheeling lead to the final score of 3-0. Taylor Gauthier managed to earn the Nailers their first shutout of the season on just 17 Cincy shots.
Then on Sunday, both Reading and Wheeling were coming to the Friendly City after playing somewhere else the night before and started off a little slow before the Nailers broke the ice with a goal just over eight minutes into the first from David Jankowski for the only points of the period.
The second was much more open, as the two teams combined for four goals in the frame, three scored by Wheeling by Jordan Martel (twice) and Logan Pietila, and the Nailers had the 4-1 advantage going into the third. In that frame, Matty De St. Phalle got Wheeling on the board just a minute and a half into it before Reading stopped the bleeding with another goal.
The Nailers did get one more on the board from Martel to finish off the hat trick, and Wheeling came away with the 6-2 victory.
The Nailers now have one more game on the road this weekend out in Reading today Saturday. What can they do to maximize their points earned in these games?
Now that we’ve gotten the victory over them on our home ice, let’s take this party up to Reading and take care of business there too. Reading came in after winning a game in Worchester on Wednesday 5-2.
Through 24 games played, the Royals enter the weekend with an 8-12-4 record and are down near the bottom of the division standings. Despite that, they’ve been in a lot of close games, accumulating a record of 3-4-4 in games decided by one goal this season.
Reading has seen some success this season on the power play, humming along at a 20.8% success rate overall, although that does dip slightly to 18.8% success at home.
Their big issue this season has been their penalty kill, which is third worst in the entire league overall at 75.3%, which again dips at home to 66.7%, which is next to last. Wheeling’s road penalty kill group is ninth in the ECHL at 87.1% success, and the road power play is seventh in the league with a 27.6% success rate.
If the Nailers can get to the man advantage and take advantage of it (Reading averages 10.30 minutes of penalties a game), while continuing to get strong goaltending out of Sergei Murashov and Taylor Gauthier, I believe they should see success on this short road trip.
The Nailers have reached a 12-game winning streak (and points in 15 straight going back to their last regulation loss on November 1). How long can we realistically expect this streak to last?
Boy, it hurts a bit to ask this question, because it feels like I’m just asking for something to happen. Also, the Nailers recently had several players recalled to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recently, including Justin Lee, Mats Lindgren, and Chris Ortiz.
Losing three of our better defensemen out of the lineup at the same time doesn’t really help the confidence level either.
That being said, I still think Wheeling has the firepower to keep this thing going. Their depth may get tested somewhat, but I feel like this is one of the deepest Wheeling rosters we’ve seen in recent years. Not only that, but the offense has continued its strong start to the season. There are four players on the roster (Jordan Martel, Kyle Jackson, Atley Calvert, and Matty De St. Phalle) who have already hit the 20-point mark on the year.
And the goaltending has been a significant point of strength, with Sergei Murashov picking up where Taylor Gauthier left off last season, despite Gauthier rejoining the Nailers too.
I feel like this team can win in a number of ways this year, and despite a few tough games coming up soon (a home-and-home with Toledo next weekend looms large), Wheeling should be able to stay strong and continue to win games consistently, if not push this streak further.
As the Nailers passed the quarter mark of the season last weekend, several rookies on the team are having outstanding years. Do you think they have what it takes to keep it going in their first year as a pro?
Two of the players I just mentioned, Calvert and De St. Phalle, are having very strong seasons despite it being their first years playing pro hockey. They both sit two points shy of the league lead in points by a rookie, currently held by Connor MacEachern from Idaho. In addition to them, Jack Beck is having a very solid rookie campaign as well, with 16 points (2 goals and 14 assists) in 19 games played. If these guys can continue to contribute nightly to how strong the offense has been, I feel like that just benefits the Nailers to have them on the ice as much as possible.
On the back end, Sergei Murashov has stepped up big time as a newcomer to the professional scene in North America. After playing seven total games in the KHL over the last two seasons, Murashov finally made his way to Wheeling as a Pittsburgh draft pick from back in 2022, and he’s shown the promise the Penguins saw when they selected him. In 11 games for the Nailers, he is 9-2-0 with a 2.35 goals-against average and 0.922 save percentage.
In addition to that, he’s shown promise during his trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as well, recording a 2-0-0 record there with a 2.50 goals-against average and 0.919 save percentage. If he is given the chance to stay down here in Wheeling long-term and continues to play and grow as he has, I fully believe the Nailers have a chance to win every game he starts for them between the pipes.
With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, people are beginning to make their plans for how to spend the last night of 2024. The Nailers happen to have a game that evening against Reading at home. How much fun will it be to bring in 2025 on the heels of (hopefully) a victory for the Nailers?
I’ll be honest with you here: I hate holidays. I’ve been that way for a long time (dating back to at least second grade), so I don’t expect that to change any time soon. My wife is disappointed by it, as she loves to celebrate them, but she’s learned to accept it in our 14 years of marriage and almost 19 years together.
So, over our time together, just about every New Year’s Eve has consisted of us sitting on the couch, her falling asleep well before midnight, and me waking her up to see the ball drop before she goes to bed. It’s worked for us to this point.
So, imagine my surprise when she suggested we go to the Nailers game that evening to enjoy some live hockey before all our normal activities. I normally go to games with my press pass, but I have to admit I was a little excited when she said I should go with her and just be a fan for a night. It does sound like it’ll be a good time, with the glow sticks and cup giveaway, as well as the postgame lights show.
They’re calling it the Kids’ Neon New Year’s Eve since the game is early enough that kids can enjoy it before the year ends, and for the adults in attendance, they’re going to have champagne bars set up for toasting. I’m really looking forward to just going to a game and cheering for my favorite team, and I hope to see you all there doing the same.
