Nailers vs. Walleye Game Day Snap Shot

WHEELING NAILERS(2-2-1-0, 5 PTS, T-5th North, T-9th East)17 GF, 12 GAPP: 25.0% (5-for-20), 2ndPK: 78.3% (18-for-23), 23rd

25-F-Josh Shalla (5 goals, 3 assists, 8 points in 5 games)16-F-Derek Army (2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points in 5 games)26-D-Kevin Schulze (1 goal, 3 assists, 4 points in 5 games)11-F-Cody Wydo (4 assists, 4 points in 5 games)23-F-Garrett Meurs (3 goals, 3 points in 5 games)17-F-Jordan Kwas (1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points in 5 games)31-G-Doug Carr (2-2-1 record, 2.34 GAA, .925 Sv% in 5 games)

TOLEDO WALLEYE(6-1-0-0, 12 PTS, 2nd Central, 2nd West)32 GF, 21 GAPP: 12.1% (4-for-33), 21stPK: 83.3% (25-for-30), 16th

12-F-Tyson Spink (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points in 7 games)27-F-AJ Jenks (3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points in 7 games)24-F-Tylor Spink (2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points in 7 games)16-F-Tyler Sikura (4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points in 7 games)11-D-Nolan Zajac (1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points in 7 games)23-F-Alden Hirschfeld (3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points in 5 games)1-G-Cal Heeter (3-0-0 record, 3.55 GAA, .900 Sv% in 3 games)

Head to Head2015-16 Season Series: Walleye 5, Nailers 22015-16 Season Series at WesBanco Arena: Nailers 2, Walleye 1All-Time Series: Walleye 30, Nailers 27All-Time Series at WesBanco Arena: Nailers 20, Walleye 12

A Snowman on the ScoreboardThe Wheeling Nailers were waiting for their offense to break through in a big way, and on Saturday night, they showed the Kalamazoo Wings an extremely powerful display. Derek Army scored a power play goal and Kenton Miller potted a shorthanded marker, as the home team built a 2-1 lead in the first period. In the middle frame, Josh Shalla and Garrett Meurs kept the special teams party going, as they both converted on power play tallies, putting Wheeling ahead, 4-1. The floodgates opened for good in the third period, as Shalla fired home his second and third goals of the night, while Army notched his second, and Kevin Schulze provided the exclamation point with his first professional goal, in what turned out to be an 8-1 final score. Six players had multiple points in the victory, led by Shalla's five and Army's four. Doug Carr made 22 saves for the win, giving him 67 in two games, which helped him earn ECHL Goaltender of the Week honors.

Walleye Wheeling Into West VirginiaThe Toledo Walleye took a mulligan in their first game of the season, when they fell 4-1 at the hands of the Atlanta Gladiators. Since then, Toledo has rattled off six wins in a row, including back-to-back weekend sweeps over the Brampton Beast and Norfolk Admirals. Similar to their last two seasons, the Walleye have been a lethal team on the offensive side of the puck, as they have scored at least five goals in four of their six triumphs. Three of Toledo's six wins have gone past regulation, including last Friday, when Tylor Spink snapped a 2-2 tie to edge the Admirals at Norfolk Scope Arena. The following night, four different players lit the lamp, as the Walleye prevailed, 4-1. Jake Paterson and Cal Heeter have alternated starts in each of the first seven games of the campaign, with Heeter making 23 saves on Friday, and Paterson following up with 32 stops on Saturday.

The Last Time We Saw a Night Like ThatIn the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, the Nailers put up eight goals against the Reading Royals in an 8-3 victory, but prior to Saturday, one would have to flip the calendar back to the 2010-11 season to find another eight-goal outburst, as Wheeling blasted Gwinnett, 8-3 on December 11th of that year. The seven-goal decision was the first for the Nailers since February 23, 2014, when Wheeling delivered a 7-0 blow to the chins of the Elmira Jackals at First Arena. From an individual standpoint, Josh Shalla had a night to remember, as he netted the team's first hat trick of the season and the third of his career. Prior to Shalla, the last Nailer to score a hat trick was Cody Wydo on March 4, 2015, and the last Wheeling player to put three in the back of the net at home was Sahir Gill on March 29, 2014. But the magical night didn't stop there for Josh, who also produced two assists for a total of five points. The last time a Nailer recorded five points in a game was January 29, 2011, when Mickael Bedard and Nick Petersen both achieved the feat in a 7-4 home win over the Trenton Devils.

Bonis Transaction Could be a BonusToledo's 4.57 goals per game rank first in the ECHL in the early part of the season, but one of its powerful options won't be in the lineup on Friday night. After racking up five goals and ten points in the first seven games, Kyle Bonis was loaned to the AHL's Rochester Americans. After a 36-goal campaign with the Walleye in 2014-15, Bonis split the 2015-16 season between Toledo and the AHL's San Diego Gulls, appearing in 32 games with each team. The Walleye are still a strong offensive club without Bonis' services, as familiar faces such as AJ Jenks, Tyler Sikura, Alden Hirschfeld, Evan Rankin, and Shane Berschbach have all been frequent contributors in previous seasons. Toledo also has a unique weapon in the form of the Spink twins - Tyson and Tylor. The two have combined to accumulate 17 points in the first seven games of the year, with Tyson's nine serving as the new team lead. Nolan Zajac, Simon Denis, and Jacob MacDonald are all new to the Walleye, and have combined for 19 points thus far. Zajac and Denis are rookies, while MacDonald played for the Elmira Jackals a season ago.

Different Conference, Same RivalryFriday night marks the first of ten head-to-head meetings between the Nailers and Walleye this season, as well as the first of five battles at WesBanco Arena. The 2015-16 season series was dominated by the home teams, as Wheeling took two of the three games played in West Virginia, while Toledo posted a 4-0 mark at Huntington Center. That has tended to be the case in this rivalry since the Walleye returned to the ECHL in 2009, as home teams have been victorious on 38 of 57 occasions (.667 winning percentage). This will be the second year in a row that the slate begins with a home-and-home series, as the two sides split a pair of games last December, starting in Toledo, and finishing up in Wheeling. The Nailers are in search of their first season series win over the Walleye since 2013-14. Both teams have new head coaches in 2016-17, but Wheeling's Jeff Christian and Toledo's Dan Watson are both familiar with the rivalry, having worked as assistant coaches in prior clashes. After Saturday, the next game between the two sides will take place on December 27th in Toledo. That night will start a 61-day period in which the two clubs will collide seven times.