The Nailers split another two-game series to start the season, winning 5-4 on Saturday before losing 4-1 on Sunday at Reading. How did Wheeling manage to earn the split?
While it would have been nice to take the first two games of the season against our new division “rival” in Reading, I think we have to be happy with a split against the team currently in first place in the North Division, even if it is early in the year. The Royals have gone on to lose their two games so far this week against Trois-Rivières though, so we’ll see how long they’re able to stay up there. The way I look at it is, if we’re able to stay at or slightly above .500 on the road while earning a really good record at home is a recipe for success for most teams who do well, so sticking close to that the start the year can definitely help us later on in the season.
Saturday’s game was the first one of the season that didn’t open with a Matthew Quercia fight, although he did manage to take a penalty for high sticking just past the halfway mark of the first period. The game really took off in the second period, with Wheeling controlling the first part of the period with three goals less than eight minutes into the frame thanks to Matty De St. Phalle, Chris Ortiz, and Cole Cameron each getting their first of the season. Reading took over the second half of the period with two goals of their own, then adding one more early in the third to tie the game back up. Wheeling would again take control with two more tallies of their own from Sam Houde and Logan Pietila, and despite the Royals scoring a shorthanded goal with just over a minute remaining, the Nailers held on to take the victory.
The game on Sunday got off to a quick start, with Reading scoring their first goal before most fans even found their way to their seats, less than two minutes after the opening draw. Then, two and a half minutes later, they extended the lead to two with a power play marker before Wheeling finally earned a goal of their own, also on the power play, off the stick of De St. Phalle, his second of the weekend. Neither team managed to do much in the second, and despite the Nailers outshooting the Royals 13-5 in both the second and third periods, Reading proved to be too much as they extended their lead to two once again just short of eight minutes into the third, then added an empty netter with less than two minutes remaining in the game to earn the split for the weekend.
The Nailers had one final road game before coming home, losing last night to Toledo 3-2. What happened in that game to cause Wheeling to lose?
Well, going from a short series against our newest division rival to a single game against our previous biggest division rival is definitely something. Despite us no longer being in the same division (or conference) as the Walleye, I still find myself hating them just as much as I ever did. Having them come away with the victory in our first of seven matchups this season stinks, but it definitely gives us fuel to fan the flames of our hatred for them in the remaining games on the schedule this season.
The Nailers managed to come out strong, scoring just six minutes into the contest off a fantastic pass by Sam Houde setting up Mats Lindgren for his first goal as a professional. Six minutes later, Houde did it again, with another great setup for Louie Roehl to put Wheeling up 2-0. Unfortunately, Brandon Hawkins is still employed by the Walleye, and he still takes a ton of shots on the power play, and Toledo managed to cut the Nailers lead in half shortly before the end of the period.
The Walleye found the back of the Wheeling net behind Sergei Murashov halfway through the second frame, leading to a tie game and a little momentum on the side of Toledo before the Nailers managed to take another late penalty, and just like in the first, Hawkins buried his shot with less than a minute left in the period to give Toledo their first lead of the game. Despite a 17-6 shots advantage in the third period, Wheeling just couldn’t solve Jan Bednar one more time, and the Walleye earned the victory in their home opener, just in time to send the Nailers back to the Friendly City for their own home opener.
The Nailers finally play in front of the home crowd tonight against the Bloomington Bison. What do they need to do to come away with the victory?
Looking at ticket sales going into the game this evening, it appears this game will be a near sellout (if it doesn’t manage to sell out between when I write this and gametime), so the crowd in that building should be a deciding factor. I really hope the building is obnoxiously loud to welcome Bloomington to the league and to our beautiful city for the first time, and I hope they aren’t able to think straight when they’re out on the ice. Having that many fans in the building can definitely be a deciding factor, especially on such an emotionally charged night as the home opener.
As for the actual product on the ice, I’ll be interested to see if special teams play turns in the Nailers’ advantage this year as compared to last year. The power play unit is performing admirably through four games, with 3 goals on 14 opportunities for a 21.4% success rate. However, the penalty kill could potentially be the Achilles’ heel for Wheeling again this year, as they have already given up 4 goals in 19 trips onto the ice, giving them a 78.9% success rate. Good teams kill penalties at a much higher rate than that, so if Wheeling wants to have a successful year, they may need to focus on improving their shorthanded group to keep the puck out of their own net.
Another key stat in the league year in and year out is scoring first. Through their first five games, Wheeling has managed to score first three times, with a record of 2-1 in those games (stupid Toledo ruining that record). Bloomington has only managed to score first once this season in their first five games, but they did manage to win that game. Leaguewide, the team that scores first has a record of 43-11-7, for a 0.762 win percentage, which is actually lower than last year’s figure but is still rather high. Wheeling would be wise to pay attention to this and work hard early to try and continue that trend of teams that score first winning the majority of their games.
Last season, the Nailers made it through November with a mediocre 8-8 record. What do they have to do this year to hopefully put themselves in a better spot coming out of the first full month of the 2024-25 season?
Like I said in the answer to the last question, special teams play will most likely be the deciding factor for Wheeling this year. Looking back at last year, their special teams weren’t able to differentiate themselves enough to help the team enough for them to have continued success. From what I have seen from this team so far this year, I feel like they have the talent on the roster (as well as the play design from Coach Derek Army) to see success in these areas. If the Nailers can continue to have a success rate for the man advantage group over 20%, while improving the penalty kill group to (hopefully) closer to 85% (although I would happily take over 80%), that should go a long way towards this team being in a good place moving forward.
Another thing that went well for the Nailers last year was scoring early. There were a lot of games where Wheeling earned themselves an early lead, within the first five minutes of a game, but the thing that didn’t go as well for them was holding that lead. Almost as often as they were able to jump out to an early lead, they managed to lose said lead and found themselves trailing heading to the locker room. So far this year, Wheeling is being outscored in the first period (albeit it’s just two goals for against four goals against), but earning early leads and managing to hold onto them will help this team get over the hump and head into the second month of the year with a win percentage north of .500.
The Nailers have a lot of fun promotions on deck this year, but there are quite a few in November alone. Which one are you looking forward to the most this month?
The Nailers have managed to schedule special events and promotions for every home game during the month, which is an impressive feat in and of itself. A lot of teams only give their fans one, maybe two per month, so to see them trying to reach out and give us something more than just the hockey on the ice to enjoy when at Wesbanco Arena is a special thing.
While the organization will welcome First Responders Night (November 9), the annual Education Day game (November 12), and Pittsburgh Pirates night (November 16) just within the first couple weeks, there are two events a little later in the year that I’ve already circled on my calendar. On Wednesday, November 27, the Thanksgiving Eve game against Toledo, IWC Wrestling will come back to The Bank and entertain fans in the front lobby. I remember seeing them there last year, and it was definitely a spectacle, and I’m sure they have something very special planned for their first (but hopefully not last) return trip to perform for Nailers fans again.
However, the one I absolutely will find my way to as a fan (not as a media member) will be on November 30 for Hall of Fame Night. The annual teddy bear toss after the first Wheeling goal of the night will be held that evening, which is always an awesome moment to see, but the team will welcome back former members Steve Gibson and Tomas Vokoun to induct them in the team hall of fame. In addition to that, this night will be even more special as my friend DJ Abisalih will celebrate his 1,000th game calling the action for the Nailers, which is just unimaginable in this day and age. I’ll be more than happy to be in attendance for such an awesome event, and I hope all of you are looking forward to the schedule this month and getting your tickets in advance for the events you want to be in the building for.
