Wheeling's Comeback Falls Short against Toledo
January 11, 2014 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release
WHEELING, WV- On Saturday night, the Wheeling Nailers welcomed their second largest crowd of the season to WesBanco Arena, and nearly gave them a memorable finish. Unfortunately, a 4-1 deficit was too much to be able to overcome, as the Toledo Walleye picked up a 5-3 win, backed by a pair of power play goals.
Toledo struck with the game's first goal at the 5:27 mark of the opening period. Stephon Thorne skated the puck to the top of the right circle, then turned with a wrist shot toward the goal. Daniel Koger got a piece of Thorne's shot, tipping it through traffic for the marker. The Nailers answered with 5:45 to go in the frame. Jacob Lagace threw a hit against the end boards, freeing the puck for Tyler Fernandez, who spotted Sahir Gill at the left face-off dot. Gill powered a one-timer through Hannu Toivonen, sending the teams into the intermission knotted at one.
In the early stages of the second period, Wheeling ran into penalty trouble, and the Walleye capitalized, netting a pair of power play goals. Koger picked up the first one at 5:14, when he banged in the rebound of Joe Sova's one-timer from the right side of the blueline. 1:06 later, a failed clearing attempt resulted in a 3-on-1 for Toledo, with Alden Hirschfeld setting up former Nailer Aaron Clarke for the tap-in on the right side of the crease. 2:42 after that, the visitors extended their lead to three, when Louis-Marc Aubry finished off a pass from Hirschfeld.
Despite trailing by three, the Nailers began to stage a comeback in the third. At the 11:48 mark, Jacob Lagace banked the puck off of Hannu Toivonen and into the net for a power play goal, cutting the deficit to two. Then, with 2:25 left in regulation, Wheeling got to within one, thanks to a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush by Nick D'Agostino and Jack MacLellan. D'Agostino slipped a pass through the slot to MacLellan, who tapped in the goal on the left side of the ice. Unfortunately, the comeback was unable to be completed, as Alden Hirschfeld iced the 5-3 win for Toledo with an empty net goal at 19:48.
Hannu Toivonen got the win for the Walleye, stopping 31 of the 34 shots he faced. Mike Condon suffered the loss for Wheeling, making 27 saves on 31 shots.
The Nailers and Walleye will clash again on Sunday at 5:15 in Toledo. Wheeling's next home game takes place on January 26th against Cincinnati at 3:00.
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