The Nailers couldn’t earn a victory in two road games last weekend after a 4-1 loss in Indy followed by a 3-1 loss at Fort Wayne. What did you see in those two games that contributed to those losses, and how can the Nailers use those lessons moving forward?
While it would’ve been nice to earn some standings points this past weekend, sometimes you just run into a couple of goaltenders who have very strong games. While the Nailers did everything they could over the weekend to put pressure on both the Fuel and the Komets, it just wasn’t enough. The power play struggled once again, going a combined 0-for-11 in the two games. When your man advantage group is getting that many chances and isn’t producing, your team will struggle to see much success on the ice.
On Friday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Wheeling struggled early, allowing Indy to earn a 2-0 lead before the end of the first period. While the Nailers did come out and fought hard in the second period, including a literal flight that got Raivis Ansons ejected from the game, and a game misconduct penalty for Peter Laviolette, they simply couldn’t bring the deficit to less than two, with Cedric Desruisseaux scoring the lone Nailers goal on the night. An empty net goal by Indy late in the game sealed the deal and sent Wheeling away with the loss, despite outshooting the Fuel on the night by 10 shots (28 to 18 for the game, including a 14-2 difference in the third period). Usually, having such a discrepancy in shot total is better for the team with more shots on goal, but when you face a goalie who is seeing everything, there’s not much you can do on a night like that.
Two nights later in Fort Wayne, the Nailers ran into yet another goalie who was strong between the pipes, aside from one good shot by Tanner Laderoute that allowed Wheeling to avoid getting shut out. The Nailers managed to pepper Brett Brochu, the keeper for the Komets, with 43 shots on goal, easily their highest total of the season, but couldn’t manage to get more than the one shot in the second period into the Komets net. Pair that with a Wheeling power play that went 0-for-6 on the night and a penalty kill that allowed two goals in four attempts and it resulted in another loss for the Nailers. I give Wheeling a ton of credit for continuing to play as hard as they did, because when you sense a goaltender is on like Brochu was that night, it can be frustrating and cause your team to lose focus. But I never got the sense like the Nailers got to that point, and they worked hard in every area of the game to try and come back, but it just wasn’t enough.
I think the big thing to take away from last weekend is the importance of getting the specialty teams back on track. After starting the season as hot as they did, the power play has fallen off considerably, going only 5-for-43 during the month of November thus far, for a success rate of 11.6%. They only have one game this month (11/15 at Toledo) where they managed to score multiple power play goals in a game, and five games where they failed to capitalize on their man advantage at all. That won’t be enough to keep Wheeling competitive the rest of the way. For the Nailers to have a chance as the season moves on, that’s where they will need to focus on improving considerably.
The Nailers came home for a Thanksgiving Eve tilt with Toledo, eventually earning a 4-2 victory over the Walleye. How did Wheeling reverse their fortunes from the previous weekend and earn those two points?
It’s always nice to get back on the winning track after getting two losses in a row, but to have that win come against Toledo just makes it that much more enjoyable. As a long-time Thunderbirds/Nailers fan, getting a win against the Storm/Walleye franchise just feels right. Add in the fact that Toledo currently leads the division and that we have beat them in both meetings thus far, and it just feels like maybe we have something to build off of moving forward.
The Nailers managed to score first once again in a game this season, with Avery Winslow getting his first goal in his first professional game to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead, but yet again they failed to hold the lead, allowing Toledo to tie the game before the first intermission. While that could’ve been frustrating and led to Wheeling taking their foot off the gas, the exact opposite happened, as the Nailers scored twice early in the second, including just 44 seconds into the period by David Jankowski (who then proceeded to score just over two minutes later), and a huge goal with less than a minute left in the period by Jarrett Lee to give Wheeling a 4-1 advantage after two.
While the Walleye managed to score one halfway through the third, that’s all the closer they would come, with Wheeling earning the all important two points and keeping Toledo from gaining any. The power play struggled again, going 0-for-2 in this game, but the penalty kill had an impressive showing, going perfect on three chances, including two back-to-back penalties in the second period against Laviolette. If Wheeling can continue to see success against divisional opponents, especially those ahead of them in the standings, while keeping the other teams from getting points, it will go a long way to keeping Wheeling relevant as we get into the winter months and beyond.
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The Nailers have a full schedule this weekend, beginning with a road game in Cincinnati on Friday afternoon followed by back-to-back home matchups with Iowa on Saturday and Sunday. What do the Nailers need to do to maximize the points they earn over the weekend?
This will be the Nailers’ first time seeing Cincinnati since the first game of the year, a 4-1 Nailers victory in Cincy. These two teams currently sit tied in the standings with identical 7-5-0-0 records, so one of these teams will find themselves with a slight advantage over the other after this game. Playing this game at 1:35 in the afternoon the day after American Thanksgiving probably isn’t optimal, especially considering the team will have to travel earlier in the morning to get there, so hopefully the boys didn’t eat too much turkey and stuffing and can come out and take control of the game quickly. I think this game could rely heavily on the play of the specialty teams, so getting that power play sorted should help them out considerably in this game.
The Nailers will then return to the friendly confines of the Friendly City for their first two games this year against the Heartlanders, a team Wheeling had mixed results against last year. Iowa has managed to reverse their fortunes from last year, when they were near the bottom of the standings for the entire league, and currently sit in second place in the division, two points ahead of Wheeling and Cincinnati. While Iowa has played one more game than the Nailers have to this point in the season, they have very similar stats as Wheeling does, with their power play and penalty kill being only a couple percentage points better than Wheeling’s is. The most apparent difference is in the net, where both goaltenders for the Heartlanders currently have goals-against averages slightly over 2.00 and save percentages well into the .900’s. The Nailers may find themselves having issues scoring much in these two games, so getting plenty of traffic in front of the goalie and peppering him like they have recently can help them hopefully come away with two big wins this weekend.
Although they are less than a month into the season, several changes have already happened to the roster due to injuries on teams above them requiring callups. How has this affected the team so far and do you think this is a good or bad thing for the Nailers in relation to the rest of the year?
Any time your team is in a developmental league and operating as a farm team for teams above you, there’s obviously a chance you’ll have to send your best players up at some point to help out those teams above you. The number of injuries that have already happened, especially at the NHL level, necessitates movement throughout the organization, and will force Wheeling to make adjustments to their roster, potentially on a nightly basis.
Dating back to the end of October, Taylor Gauthier, Jordan Frasca, Justin Addamo, Cedric Desruisseaux, and Raivis Ansons have all found themselves getting the chance to go up to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. While some of them have already found their way back to Wheeling, it’s definitely an adjustment when you’re losing guys who sit high on your scoring list and your top goaltender entering the season. A few players who may not have expected to get a lot of playing time coming into the year were pressed into service and have played hard when given the chance to show they want to stay in the lineup longer.
I personally think of this as a positive for the team. You have players who deserve the chance to show what they have at a higher level getting that chance and learning from it what they need to do when they return to Wheeling. You have players getting experience in Wheeling so that if they are pressed into service again later in the season, they will have this time to draw from to build on. And you have a coaching staff seeing what they have in certain players that they may not have seen in-game action, letting them get a better feel for their entire roster and figure out how to properly use players on the ice. While it can hurt to lose the production those players offer, it’s an opportunity for this franchise to be ready when or if it happens again this year. I’d rather have it happen for the first time in the year earlier rather than when they’re making a push for the playoffs later.
Saturday night’s game down at Wesbanco Arena against the Iowa Heartlanders is First Responders’ night, where the annual Guns and Hoses game will be played following the conclusion of the Nailers game. What are your thoughts on this fantastic promotion?
As someone whose best friend is a first responder, I know how great events like these are. Micah Knisely has served as a Wheeling police officer, then Ohio County sheriff, and is now working for both the Wellsburg and Bethany police departments as a K-9 officer. I’ve seen firsthand just how difficult of a job this is for these brave people, both the police and fire and I commend them greatly for all of the work they do to keep us safe from harm with what they do.
Not only has Micah served our communities for many years, he has also played in the Guns and Hoses games in years past. I’ve always really enjoyed getting the chance to see these public servants get the chance to kick back and enjoy playing a game, with bragging rights on the line for the next year. Getting the chance to watch a Nailers game, then sticking around to watch these heroes go out there and play hard for our enjoyment, is my idea of a fantastic time. I hope everyone comes out to honor these people, and sticks around to watch just how much fun they have out on the ice after the Nailers game is over.
