The Nailers split their only two games scheduled this season against Norfolk last weekend, winning Friday before dropping the Saturday tilt. What could’ve worked better for Wheeling to help them maximize their points?
While it’s always nice to earn some points when going on the road, finding a way to maximize their points against divisional opponents is needed. The game on Friday showed that Wheeling was able to hang on when the other team is buzzing and earn the victory, but Saturday’s game was a struggle from the drop of the puck, and nothing the Nailers tried could’ve changed the course of that one. The best thing Wheeling can do now is develop a short memory, forget all about that one, and move on to their games this week.
Friday’s game didn’t start very well for Wheeling, as Norfolk pushed hard to earn the first goal of the game, which ended up going their way just eight minutes into the contest. However, the Nailers managed to answer back quickly, with Jack Beck netting the tying goal just a minute and a half later. Then, 32 seconds later with momentum on their side, Dilan Peters scored his first professional goal to put the Nailers up by one, and that lead held until the end of the period.
The second period was much stronger for the Nailers, as they outshot the Admirals 14-6 in the frame, but it took until under eight minutes left in the period for Wheeling to find the back of the net off the stick of Gabe Klassen. Then Wheeling got one more late in the period on the power play by Atley Calvert, and suddenly the Nailers had a three-goal advantage going into the final period. For how well the second went for Wheeling, the third went just as poorly, as Norfolk outshot the Nailers 17-7 in the frame and scored three goals in the period, with the last one coming with just over four minutes left.
Luckily, five minutes into the period, Klassen netted his second of the game, and Wheeling held strong to keep the one-goal advantage and win the game.
The first period of Saturday’s game was just as bad as the third period the night before for the Nailers, as the Admirals managed to put six on the board in the opening frame, chasing starting goaltender Taylor Gauthier after their fifth just 12 minutes into the contest.
When your team is trailing by that much after just one period, you have to try some unorthodox things to get back into it, and Derek Army did just that when his team got a power play early in the second to get a 6-on-4 advantage. Unfortunately for him, Norfolk managed to score the very unique second period shorthanded empty netter to extend their lead to seven before Wheeling finally got on the board on the same power play just 18 seconds later thanks to Klassen.
While the Nailers might’ve thought they managed to stop the bleeding with that goal, Norfolk had other ideas, scoring their eighth of the night later in the period before Wheeling potted two more within the final minute of the frame from Sam Houde and Matt Koopman, but the writing was on the wall as Wheeling trailed 8-3 going into the third. The Admirals got one more goal in that final period less than four minutes in, and despite a strong push by Wheeling to change their fate, they couldn’t do anything about it and suffered their worst loss of the season to Norfolk.
The Nailers had a midweek game on Wednesday in Indy against the Fuel, losing 2-1 in overtime. What happened in the game to keep Wheeling from earning the second point?
For the second game in a row, Wheeling had a disappointing first period as Indy managed to outshoot them in the frame, 10-4. Luckily for the Nailers, Sergei Murashov was back to his normal self, stopping every shot he faced in the period and shutting down the only power play earned in that period. The second period was a bit more even, as Indy only outshot Wheeling by one shot, and the Nailers managed to score the first goal of the game just past the midway point of the period from Mats Lindgren as Dakota Seaman tallied the primary assist for his first point as a professional.
Unfortunately for Wheeling, they couldn’t hold the lead to the end of the frame, as former Nailer Cam Hausinger tied the game at 1-1 with just over two minutes left in the middle frame.
The Nailers pushed hard in the third, putting 13 shots on goal to try to break the deadlock and win in regulation. However, Indy goalie Ben Gaudreau made a number of ten bell saves to keep things even and push the game to the overtime period. In the overtime period, Wheeling did everything they could to end it and earn the winner point, collecting four more shots on goal.
But Gaudreau gave his team a chance, and Indy finished the game on their only shot in the extra frame and sent the Nailers to their second loss in a row.
The Nailers play one more game in Indy on Friday before returning home for Saturday and Sunday games against Worchester. What does Wheeling need to do over the weekend to earn some very valuable standings points?
Well, considering how they’ve started the last couple of games, I would say work harder early on to set the tone in the first period.
The opening frame has been a challenge all season, with them having a +8-scoring margin in the first period this season, although that does include the -6 from Saturday’s game. For comparison, Wheeling has a +15-scoring margin in the second period, and a whopping +18-scoring margin in the third this season, tied with Florida for the best margin in the final period.
Another thing that has generally gone Wheeling’s way this season is when scoring first, Wednesday’s game notwithstanding. Through 31 games played, the Nailers have managed to score first in 16 of their contests, earning a 14-1-1 record in those games for a 0.906 points percentage in games they score first. That mark ties them with Tulsa for the best points percentage in the league in games where the team scores first. Which just emphasizes yet again how important a good first period is for this team.
Finally, the Nailers would be helped if they could get their special teams going. In their last three games, their power play is 2-for-10. While a 20 percent success rate would still technically be top ten in the league, it’s below their season average of 25 percent, good for second in the league behind Trois-Rivières. While that could be difficult against an Indy penalty kill unit that’s second in the ECHL themselves (behind South Carolina) with an 89.6 percent success rate, Worchester’s shorthanded unit is next to last overall at 73.8% success.
Wheeling must take advantage of their opportunities in all three games to hopefully bring home all six points available this weekend.
The Nailers continue to be in first place in the division, but only by two points over Trois-Rivières while playing two more games than them to this point. Do you expect this position battle with the Lions (and Norfolk) to last through the second half of the year?
It was very impressive just a month ago when Wheeling was in the middle of one of their longest winning streaks in team history.
Those points have come in handy at this stage to keep the Nailers at the top of their division as we get closer to the midway point of the season. Trois-Rivières is having a very strong season, holding a 21-4-4 record (46 points) through 29 games and currently on a six-game point streak (5-0-1) after winning all three games last weekend against Adirondack. Norfolk, who Wheeling just finished their season series with last weekend, is staying within striking distance of the Nailers at 20-9-3 (43 points), although they are 5-5-0 over their last ten games.
I have a feeling the strong play of all three of these teams will continue to make this a dogfight over the second half. Adirondack, Maine, and Reading are the bottom feeders of the division, and the Lions still have 21 games remaining against them, while the Admirals have 18 left with those three teams. Wheeling, however, only has 11 games left with those three teams, while most of their remaining schedule is with the strong teams from the Central Division (Toledo, Iowa, Fort Wayne, and Indy).
The Nailers face a bit of an uphill climb to stay where they are in the standings currently, but if they can continue their strong play against teams from that division (they currently have a 15-3-1 record against them), there’s no reason Wheeling can’t find themselves at the top of the North Division come April.
The Nailers will be holding Star Wars Night on Saturday against Worchester. What are your thoughts on this promotion?
This is the point where I have to admit something that could be somewhat embarrassing for me, but it must be done. I never watched any of the Star Wars movies until I met my wife.
It was just never something that I felt the desire to just sit down and watch. I knew how popular the movies were, and I knew the important characters and parts, but that was good enough for me.
Then she found out and was properly aghast at the fact that a person as old as I was at that point had never seen them. She enjoyed the movies quite a bit (well, maybe not all of them, but enough of them), and she insisted I watch them. Now, while I will admit that they’re not my favorite movies of all time, I do enjoy them and look forward to seeing what Disney manages to do with the story in whatever future movies they decide to come out with.
That being said, I do know a bunch of people here in the area who claim that the Star Wars franchise films are their favorite movies of all time. To them I say, make sure you get down to the arena this weekend. Many of the characters from the films will be there to take photos with, and the team is tying into the theme with special jerseys that they will be auctioning off as the night goes on.
The Nailers will also be giving away toboggans to fans in attendance, so go grab your tickets now and I’ll see you at the rink.
