The Nailers finished their three-game road trip to start the season 2-1 after winning 7-2 against Kalamazoo followed by a 7-3 loss to Fort Wayne. What are your takeaways from these performances to begin the season?
While it would’ve been preferred for the team to come home with a 3-0 record, picking up two big wins against division rivals who finished ahead of the Nailers last season (Cincinnati and Kalamazoo) is still helpful. It’s also helpful that Wheeling has been able to score 14 goals in their three games to this point in the season, with seven different players able to score those goals. I feel like having such a distribution early in the year shows that the team is spreading the puck around and points to great things for this year if they can continue to get contributions up and down the lineup.
In the game on Friday, it was truly a back-and-forth affair until the third, when the Nailers took control and scored five times to break a 2-2 deadlock. Goals from newcomer Evan Vierling, Felix Pare, rookie David Jankowski, a second from Pare, and finally from Matt Koopman gave the Nailers their biggest margin of victory since February 11 last year, a 10-2 victory over Norfolk. Wheeling could’ve very well folded in this game after the emotion and pageantry of opening night the weekend before in Cincinnati, after going into the first intermission trailing 2-1. Luckily, Coach Derek Army was able to get the squad refocused, made sure they were ready to play 40 more minutes of hockey, and they were able to lock it down from there. Taylor Gauthier was able to shut down the Wings after that, making 21 saves in the final two periods and 31 saves overall to earn the victory.
For how well the game went for the road team on Friday, the Nailers never seemed to be able to get their legs under them on Saturday in Fort Wayne. The Komets were coming in following a huge 9-2 loss to Toledo the night before, and you could tell they didn’t want to allow that performance to carry over. Even though Wheeling was able to keep Fort Wayne off the board early, once they got one late in the first, it didn’t stop. The Nailers entered the second period down 2-0 and went to the third down 4-0, including the first power play goal they had allowed all season. Wheeling scored one early in the third to try and show a little life, but the Komets poured two more into the net before the Nailers scored two late power play goals of their own to make it seem not as out of hand as it was.
What I saw was a team who wasn’t ready to give up at any point over the weekend. In the Kalamazoo game, they could’ve sat back on their heels once they had a comfortable lead and coasted to a victory. For the Fort Wayne tilt, they could’ve realized it wasn’t their night and just rolled over and started looking forward to this weekend. Neither of those happened, as the Nailers were able to show some initiative and continue to push hard for 60 minutes. It’s a little concerning that Wheeling trailed in both games and eventually fell behind far enough that they couldn’t make it up against the Komets, but the fact that they continued to work in an attempt to earn both wins tells me that they’re ready to play all 72 games or more this season.
Looking ahead, the Nailers have Reading coming to town on Saturday for opening night then a second tilt with the Royals on Sunday. What does Wheeling need to do this weekend to move their record to 4-1 on the season?
I feel like a clunker of a performance like that will leave a sour taste in the mouths of the players on the ice Saturday. Any time your team is coming off of a loss, you want to see that fire in the next game, that desire to reverse their fortunes, and I would expect nothing less from this group. I think it also helps that the Nailers face Reading eight times last season, giving a sense of familiarity with the opponent. The guys who are still on the team from that group last year should have a good idea of how to beat the Royals, going 5-3 against them last season. But there are a number of new players this season who are getting their first taste of home hockey in the Friendly City, so things could be different this year.
I feel like a major key for the Nailers going into this contest is keeping the power play and penalty kill on fire (more on that shortly). Even though their numbers have been rather astronomical this early in the year, it’s not inconceivable to think they can still get major contributions from both groups. While you never want to see your team take many penalties, and I really do believe Wheeling has been able to reduce the number of times that’s happened so far this year, knowing you’re sending out a good PK squad definitely helps soften the blow a little when it does come to pass.
Another important factor will be play in the net. Gauthier got the start in all three games so far but was called up to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier this week. That leaves David Tendeck as the only goaltender on the roster currently, meaning he will see his first game action in the home opener. Tendeck has played parts of the last three seasons in the ECHL with Rapid City and Atlanta, with nine appearances up in the AHL with Tucson. He has a career 28-39-6 record in the league, with a goals-against average hanging around the .900 mark. The Nailers will need some strong play in net behind them to allow the pressure and speed that Coach Army wants this team to use, so look for Tendeck to hopefully play strong and allow them to get to their gameplan as best as they can.
The power play and penalty kill groups have seen a lot of success through the first two weeks of the season. Assuming they won’t stay as high as they do, what do they need to do to help the team continue winning games?
I honestly can’t remember the last time the Nailers had both their power play and penalty kill going as well as they are both going at the same time right now. The man advantage group has managed to cash in six times in 15 chances so far this season for a 40% success rate, while the shorthanded group has killed off 16 out of 18 total times this year for a success rate close to 90% (88.9%, to be exact). When a league average PP is generally around 20%, having your success rate be double that average is absolutely incredible, even over a short sample size. The PK group is also performing well ahead of the league average, meaning the specialty teams in Wheeling are truly special right now.
I fully expect, over a complete 72 game season, that these numbers will tend to drop back towards league average. But even if they do, their percentages should still stay well ahead of where they were last year, when the power play was only successful 14.9% of the time, while the penalty kill was at an 80.2% success rate. I remember saying a number of times last season that those numbers needed to be slightly higher to help the team succeed, and it just didn’t happen. If they can keep their numbers high this year, I think that will definitely aid in the success of this year’s team.
The truly important part will be avoiding long dry spells for both groups. Last season, the Nailers had multiple games in a row, especially during their long seven game losing streak at the beginning of March, where the power play couldn’t seem to help the team. I really do think that scoring one power play goal per game can make the difference for a lot of teams, Wheeling included. Not saying they’ll get five or more power plays in each game, but if they do, they have to find a way to continue to take advantage of it and keep that percentage up.
Cedric Desruisseaux has been named the ECHL player of the month for October, after scoring three goals and six assists for nine points in three games. What do you think of his performance to this point this year, and do you expect either him or another player to earn this honor more times this season?
Desruisseaux definitely deserves this honor after his performance in the Nailers first three games. His offensive stats are wonderful and helped get this team to the point they’re at now, but he has worked hard to enhance his game in all three segments of the ice to become even more instrumental to their success. He currently has a +2 rating on the season, tied for second highest on the entire roster, and his three goals have come on just 10 shots on goal, which is an insanely high shooting percentage. He’s also tied for fifth in the entire ECHL in points, while playing less games than all of the guys ahead of him on the list, leading me to believe he can find a way further up the list as the season wears on.
If he can continue to perform at this level, there’s no question he can earn this honor again, but there are a number of players on the roster who have been performing very well also and can find a way to earn it as well. Lukas Svejkovsky, in his first season in the league, has managed to get two goals and three assists for five points thus far, with both of his tallies coming on the power play. If he can continue to work that well on the man advantage, Svejkovsky can keep his stats going in a good direction.
Another player to watch would be David Jankowski, in his first full year with the Nailers after playing just seven games for Wheeling last season. Through three games, the rookie has three goals and one assist for four points, with two of his goals scored with the man advantage. Having a rookie get that much time on the power play is rather impressive, as teams generally want someone who has been around for a while in that situation, but the fact that he’s taking advantage of that opportunity should give fans a reason to believe in his abilities and make him someone to watch for that honor through the season.
The Nailers have begun showing a web series on their YouTube channel called Forge the Future, giving a behind the scenes look in the same vein as the In the Room series the Penguins produce. What do you think of these videos and what have you learned thus far through three episodes?
I have to admit, I absolutely love behind the scenes looks into locker rooms and the lives of players. Seeing these things reminds me of the times I spent in locker rooms in all of the sports I played growing up, just obviously not quite to the level these guys are at. While these videos are all rather short at three minutes or less, it still gives you a chance to see what these guys are seeing, hear what these guys are hearing, and learn what it takes to be able to play and compete at a professional level. Getting even a small sneak peak into the life of an athlete allows us to feel like we’re a part of the organization, especially when you hear how much emphasis the team puts on their involvement in the community.
The three episodes that have been released thus far include training camp, the preseason game against Cincinnati, the naming of Justin Addamo as captain of the team this season, and the three games that have occurred thus far. You get to see the team work together, you get to hear Coach Army address the players and prep them for what to expect if they are able to make the team, and you get a good sense of just what being here means to everyone in the organization. I would highly encourage anyone who is interested in the Nailers at all to head over to their YouTube channel and spend 10 minutes or so catching up on these and keep your eye out for more of them as the season goes along.
