ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers at Jackals Game Day Snap Shot

Published on February 17, 2016 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


No Thunder Strikes in the Forecast

The Wheeling Nailers hit the halfway mark of their six-game road trip on Tuesday night, as they made their second visit in five days to Glens Falls Civic Center for a contest with the Adirondack Thunder. For the second time in a row, the Nailers came away victorious, but the end result was very much in question for the first two periods. The two Eastern Conference foes battled their way to a 0-0 deadlock, before a Wheeling explosion resulted in four goals during the third period. Andrew Ammon started the scoring with his first goal as a Nailer at the 3:22 mark, and he was followed by Chris Ciotti, Cody Wydo, and Connor Leen, who all provided insurance markers. Six players assisted on those four goals, giving Wheeling ten different players with one point in the victory. Franky Palazzese pitched his third shutout of the season, turning in a 28-save effort to defeat Peter Di Salvo, who made 26 saves for Adirondack.

Two Points and Lots of Sunshine

The Elmira Jackals will be playing their first home game since Wheeling's last visit to town, which took place on January 30th. Elmira has played its last six tilts away from First Arena, getting off to a promising start with a 2-1-0 mark in Manchester and Adirondack, but sliding to the finish with an 0-1-2 record against Florida and Orlando. The Everblades came from behind to defeat the Jackals, 2-1 in overtime in their first game in the Sunshine State, before a 4-2 result in regulation went Florida's way the following night. The road swing continued in Orlando on Sunday, where the Solar Bears took three separate one-goal leads, only to see Elmira answer all three times. However, the Jackals were unable to respond to the fourth Orlando tally - the winning goal in overtime by Eric Baier. CJ Motte was the netminder for the two games in Estero, while Alex Vazzano got the nod at Amway Center. Allan McPherson had six goals and ten points to lead all players on the six-game journey.

More About That Third Period

The third period of Tuesday night's game was one of Wheeling's best of the season, as the Nailers scored four times on nine shots, while blanking all nine shots by the Thunder for a 4-0 victory. While third period victories have been relatively common, Wheeling bucked a recent downward trend, as Tuesday was only its second win of the year when being tied after the second period. The previous triumph came on December 10th at Indy, thus Tuesday ended a stretch of six straight results in the other direction. The 4-0 score also boosted the Nailers' third period goal differential to +7, which is a significant separation over -7 differences in the first and second periods. The four-goal stanza was Wheeling's third of the campaign. Two of those three have been achieved in the third period, including the five-goal outburst on Education Day. The Nailers have now scored at least three goals in a period ten times.

Help Coming From All Directions

Both the Nailers and Jackals will enter Wednesday's game with a few extra sets of hands, thanks to the American Hockey League. On Wednesday, the Nailers received defenseman Clark Seymour and forward Ty Loney from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Seymour has been with the AHL Penguins since late November, recording five points in 15 games, after a stellar start with Wheeling, which saw him rack up nine points in 17 contests. Loney has 12 points in 18 games as a Nailer and five points in 23 tilts with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Elmira's help comes in the form of forward Allan McPherson and defenseman Spiro Goulakos from the Rochester Americans, as well as defenseman Nick Tuzzolino from the Binghamton Senators. McPherson is a key member of the Jackals' offense, as he has 16 goals and 32 points in 25 ECHL games, while Goulakos has chipped in with 19 points in 32 games from the blueline. Tuzzolino is a veteran defender with over 500 games of professional experience.

So Long to the Empire

Wednesday night marks the fourth of six head-to-head meetings between the Nailers and Jackals this season, as well as the third and final battle at First Arena. This will be Wheeling's final regular season game of the year in the State of New York, where it has posted a 3-0-1 mark against Elmira and Adirondack. The Nailers last visited the Jackals on January 29th and 30th, with each team earning a win, and Wheeling picking up three out of four points, with a 4-1 victory in the opener and a 4-3 shootout setback in the back half. Both of Elmira's triumphs over the Nailers this season have come via the shootout, as they won the lone previous meeting at WesBanco Arena, 3-2 on December 6th. The two sides will drop the puck twice in West Virginia to close out the month on February 27th and 28th. The all-time series is currently tied, 44-44.

Wheeling Nailers (22-21-2-3, 49 Pts.) at Elmira Jackals (25-22-2-1, 53 Pts.)

WHEELING NAILERS

(22-21-2-3, 49 PTS, 2nd North, 11th East)

140 GF, 150 GA

PP: 16.8% (31-for-184), 17th

PK: 83.4% (156-for-187), 18th

18-D-Mathew Maione (6 goals, 29 assists, 35 points in 46 games)

23-F-Riley Brace (14 goals, 19 assists, 33 points in 32 games)

11-F-Cody Wydo (13 goals, 9 assists, 22 points in 35 games)

4-D-Paul Cianfrini (2 goals, 15 assists, 17 points in 47 games)

27-D-Brett Stern (5 goals, 11 assists, 16 points in 48 games)

10-F-Chris Ciotti (7 goals, 8 assists, 15 points in 36 games)

30-G-Casey DeSmith (2-2-2 record, 2.62 GAA, .912 Sv% in 9 games)

ELMIRA JACKALS

(25-22-2-1, 53 PTS, 4th East, 9th East)

139 GF, 154 GA

PP: 15.9% (30-for-189), 18th

PK: 79.7% (145-for-182), 25th

10-F-Cason Hohmann (16 goals, 21 assists, 37 points in 38 games)

9-F-Allan McPherson (16 goals, 16 assists, 32 points in 25 games)

17-F-Mike Seidel (12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points in 48 games)

11-F-Chris Langkow (6 goals, 21 assists, 27 points in 47 games)

18-F-Colin Jacobs (10 goals, 14 assists, 24 points in 46 games)

23-D-Jacob MacDonald (10 goals, 14 assists, 24 points in 50 games)

30-G-CJ Motte (13-17-1 record, 2.79 GAA, .912 Sv% in 34 games)

Head to Head

Season Series: Jackals 2, Nailers 1

Season Series at First Arena: Nailers 1, Jackals 1

All-Time Series: Nailers 44, Jackals 44

All-Time Series at First Arena: Jackals 28, Nailers 18

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from February 17, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central