The Nailers only earned one win in three tries against Kansas City last weekend, winning Friday before falling on Saturday and Sunday. What happened that caused Wheeling to lose the series against the Mavericks?
Holy cow, that’s an aggressive forecheck by Kansas City. I don’t know the last time I saw a team play with two skaters attacking a player holding the puck behind his own net. The impressive part about it was, while they were pushing the issue on the forecheck, they didn’t allow that many odd man breaks the other direction due to their speed. I feel like this weekend shows where the Nailers still need to improve a bit in order to be ready for the playoffs and hopefully making a deep run.
The story of the game on Friday, at least early on, was Wheeling’s inability to maintain possession. There were a lot of weak passes and turnovers that gave the Mavericks good scoring chances, but Taylor Gauthier was ready and stopped them all. The Nailers finally broke through and earned a power play goal just under six minutes in from Kyle Jackson which held until Jackson potted another one nine minutes later to make it 2-0 Wheeling. Unfortunately, one of the worst tripping calls I’ve ever seen got called on David Drake late in the frame, and KC got one just before the end of the period to cut the lead to one after one.
Both teams swapped goals in the second, with Matthew Quercia netting one just three minutes in, followed by the Mavericks getting one of their own with just over eight minutes left in the period, and the one-goal advantage held into the third. In the third, Kansas City was able to tie the game three minutes in, and their aggressive play kept giving them good scoring opportunities. Wheeling finally found a way out of their zone and sprung Matt Koopman in all alone and he found the back of the net with just under nine minutes to play, and the Nailers held tight to earn the 4-3 victory.
Saturday’s game became one to quickly forget, as Wheeling earned 41 minutes in penalties (thanks to two 10-minute misconduct calls), the Mavericks power play ended up going 3-for-8 in the game, and the Nailers couldn’t find any consistent offensive pressure after their only goal of the game just over five minutes into the contest. Wheeling was down 3-1 going into the second, but KC managed to get two goals within the first minute of the middle frame to make it a 5-1 game, and two more goals by the road team the rest of the way gave the Nailers a crushing 7-1 defeat, leading to the game on Sunday deciding the winner of the weekend set.
The Nailers came out ready on Sunday and pushed hard early to break the press and get shots on net, totaling 12 in the first frame (the most they had in a single period all weekend), but neither team was able to find the net and they went to the second tied at 0. Wheeling finally broke through first in the second, with Jordan Martel earning a power play goal eight-and-a-half minutes into the period on a 5-on-3 advantage, but less than two minutes later, the Mavericks got one of their own, and we went to the final period tied again. KC came out buzzing in the third and were rewarded with another goal eight minutes in and, despite their best efforts, Wheeling just couldn’t push through to tie it again. The Nailers pulled their goalie late, but the Mavericks got an empty net goal with a minute remaining and left town with two big victories.
The Nailers now go on the road for three games in three cities, starting Friday in Cincinnati followed by a Saturday trip to Fort Wayne and Sunday in Toledo. What does Wheeling need to do to come out on top in these games?
Starting the weekend off with a team that the Nailers are currently 5-0 against this season seems like just what the doctor ordered at this point. While the Cyclones have improved a bit from where they were earlier in the year, they still sit towards the bottom of the league standings and don’t have much hope of getting into the playoffs this year. If Wheeling can go on the road and continue their strong play against Cincy, the weekend should start very well for them.
From there, they travel to Fort Wayne, another team the Nailers have yet to lose to this season, although they’ve only met twice at this point. The Komets present a bit more of a challenge, currently sitting in second place in the Central Division behind Toledo. Fort Wayne has been a much better road team this season than at home, with an 11-8-1 record on their own ice compared to a 14-5-0 record away from home, and their power play and penalty kill both sit in the bottom third of the league on home ice, ranking 19th in both stats. If Wheeling can come out and win the special teams battle, it should go a long way to help them earn the victory.
As for Sunday’s opponent, Toledo is cruising along through a regular season, just like always. They currently sit in first place, not only in the Central Division, but in the entire Western Conference as well. There are a couple of surprising stats though that could go the Nailers’ way if they play their cards right. First, the Walleye penalty kill on home is 25th in the ECHL (out of 29 teams) with a 76.1% success rate. Secondly, Toledo has gone to overtime 10 times this season but has a record of 1-6-3 in those games. If Wheeling can take advantage of Toledo penalties and keep the game close, there’s a good chance they can come away with another win.
The Nailers only have one home game on the schedule between now and February 21st. How do you think such an extended time on the road might affect Wheeling during this next upcoming month?
To me, the most amazing part of the eight road games the Nailers will play over that stretch is the fact that only once do they play the same team two games in a row, on February 16-17 in Greenville. Wheeling will make a four-game tour around the Central Division (the three this weekend then one next Friday at Indy) before making a pit stop back at home for a February 8 matchup with Reading. From there, they head south for games at South Carolina and Greenville.
The Nailers had something very similar in January, where they only had two home games in the month leading up to their homestand last weekend, but they at least had sets of games in places. Two in Norfolk, followed by two in Indy, then after a small homestand, two in Worcester. I feel like the travel associated with all of these games is the hardest part, where they will play a game and immediately have to travel to the next location to get ready to go again.
The key to this month and all of the travel will be taking advantage of downtime where they can. Playing three games in three days in three different cities leads to a lot of time being spent on the bus, just to head out the following weekend and then having to immediately come home for the following night. Spending a lot of time in visitor locker rooms and the bus together comes with its own share of difficulties, but if they can manage to stay rested and ready to go on the move again, I think that’s where the focus needs to be for this month.
As the calendar prepares to flip to another month, the Nailers find themselves in second place in the division. What can Wheeling do to stay in the hunt for a division championship with only a couple months remaining in the season?
Remember back towards the beginning of the season, when the Nailers managed to win 13 games in a row from November 9 to December 14, then followed up their first loss in over a month by winning six of their next seven? The only issue is they have only managed to go 3-5-2 since that time. By comparison, the Lions managed to go 12-0-2 over pretty much the same period the Nailers had their winning streak (November 15 to December 21) and have a record of 9-4-2 since then.
Professional sports are a funny, funny thing. A team manages to go on one of the best streaks they’ve had in years, earn the best record the franchise has ever had at the midway point of a season, and yet still have a team nipping at their heels in the standings because they swooned just slightly. Sports seasons are always a time of peaks and valleys, and while it’s not a complete valley the Nailers have been in during January, it is in relation to how they had been going in previous months and as compared to the teams they’re trying to stay ahead of.
While it would be nice to stay at the top and compete for the division, and I do still believe Wheeling will do just that once we get into March and the short period in April that they’re still in the regular season, the important thing is to have a seat available when the music stops. Right now, Wheeling remains 18 points clear of the first team currently out of the playoffs in the division. While that’s not a guarantee they’ll get there, I feel pretty safe in saying they should make it at this point. Obviously, things can and will change, especially when they feed into another team that feeds into another team. But I think that would be a better place to focus, staying within the top four of the division, and just giving yourself a shot. You’ve proven that you can stay competitive with and beat the other three teams sitting in those spots currently, so all you have to do is get to that point and take care of business once you’re there.
Looking ahead at the rest of the schedule, there are a number of fun promotions still left this season down at WesBanco Arena. Which ones are you looking forward to the most?
Personally, as a fan of the sport and the team, I look at the matchups first and the promotions second. Seeing a good matchup with something fun happening in the arena is always a bonus, and it can help me convince my wife that we should take a trip down to WesBanco Arena to have a nice night out.
Despite only having two full months left in this season, there really are some good promotions left on the schedule (and the games they’re associated with look pretty good too, with several of them on nights against divisional opponents). It’ll all kick off on February 8th with Pittsburgh Penguins night and a visit from “Arnie” himself, Kevin Stevens. As someone who grew up watching the Pens through the 90’s, it’s really cool to think I can meet someone who played on those great teams.
Looking further ahead, we still have Pups and Pucks night to come on February 22nd, the St. Patrick’s Day game on March 15th, Faith and Family night the very next evening on March 16th, and the biggest promotion from each of the last two seasons returns for the third year in a row, with Wizards and Wands night on April 5th. And don’t forget the frosty Fridays and post-game skate Sundays mixed in too. If any of those sound fun to you, go get your tickets now, and I look forward to seeing you there at the rink.
