Nailers at Walleye Game Day Snap Shot

WHEELING NAILERS(12-9-2-0, 26 PTS, 3rd North, T-6th East)86 GF, 77 GAPP: 23.8% (25-for-105), 1stPK: 78.1% (82-for-105), 25th

11-F-Cody Wydo (12 goals, 15 assists, 27 points in 22 games)24-F-Reid Gardiner (11 goals, 13 assists, 24 points in 23 games)23-F-Garrett Meurs (12 goals, 11 assists, 23 points in 20 games)11-F-Cam Brown (3 goals, 18 assists, 21 points in 23 games)18-F-Hunter Fejes (12 goals, 6 assists, 18 points in 23 games)28-D-Dylan Zink (2 goals, 4 assists, 6 points in 15 games)29-G-Adam Morrison (0-5-0 record, 3.26 GAA, .892 Sv% in 5 games)

TOLEDO WALLEYE(14-6-2-1, 31 PTS, 1st Central, 3rd West)76 GF, 61 GAPP: 18.0% (16-for-89), 11thPK: 91.5% (75-for-82), 1st

8-F-Christian Hilbrich (10 goals, 9 assists, 19 points in 23 games)19-F-Erik Bradford (3 goals, 13 assists, 16 points in 18 games)77-F-Connor Crisp (5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points in 21 games)28-F-Kyle Bonis (7 goals, 4 assists, 11 points in 17 games)4-D-Kevin Tansey (5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points in 23 games)5-F-Austen Brassard (1 goal, 9 assists, 10 points in 21 games)35-G-Matej Machovsky (2-3-1 record, 2.21 GAA, .925 Sv% in 6 games)

Head to HeadSeason Series: Nailers 1, Walleye 1Season Series at Huntington Center: Walleye 1, Nailers 0All-Time Series: Walleye 37, Nailers 32All-Time Series at Huntington Center: Walleye 23, Nailers 8

Tip Your Cap to TomkinsThe Wheeling Nailers had one of their most dominant offensive performances of the season on Friday, as they threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Indy Fuel goaltender Matt Tomkins. Despite 50 shots on goal, Wheeling didn't come away with the two points, as a late goal gave the Fuel a 3-2 victory. Indy's Nathan Noel scored the lone marker in the first period, before Riley Bourbonnais' pair of goals put the Nailers ahead in the middle frame. Both tallies for the visitors were assisted by Troy Josephs, who was playing in his second ECHL game. The Fuel had a quick answer from Tommy Olczyk, which sent the tilt into the third period with a 2-2 deadlock. With 3:04 to go, Michael Neal chipped in a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle, giving Indy the win. Tomkins made 48 saves in goal for the Fuel, while Adam Morrison turned in another strong game, stopping 28 of 31 shots in the defeat.

A Rare Rough Week at HomeThe Toledo Walleye began the week with a perfect 7-0-0 record at Huntington Center, but that changed quickly, thanks to road wins by the Fort Wayne Komets on Wednesday and the Tulsa Oilers on Friday. In Friday night's contest, the Oilers took control of the game during the first two periods, lighting the lamp twice in each frame for a 4-0 lead at the end of 40 minutes. Joey Sides opened the scoring at the 4:23 mark of the first period, and was followed later in the stanza by Alexandre Ranger. A pair of players netted their first goals of the season in the middle frame, starting with former Walleye blueliner Mike McKee's first pro goal, and ending up with Garrett Ladd's first since returning from Europe. Toledo made a late push with two tallies by Davis Vandane in the third period, but Charlie Sampair added one last insurance strike for the 5-2 final. Devin Williams made 27 saves for the win, beating Pat Nagle, who surrendered five goals on 19 shots.

Defying the LogicNobody in the sport of hockey will ever say to stop shooting the puck, as more shots typically leads to more goals. Strangely enough, the opposite case has been true this season in games involving the Nailers. 17 of 23 games have been won by the team with the lower shots on goal total, including Friday's 3-2 win for the Fuel. Wheeling has run into some red hot goaltenders in recent games, as Michael Houser made 40 saves in a win on Sunday for the Fort Wayne Komets, and Matt Tomkins turned away 48 of 50 shots on Friday for Indy. The Nailers have received some strong goaltending performances of their own, collecting six wins when facing at least 40 shots from the opposing team. The Walleye fell victim to this statistic in both of their losses this week, as they outshot Fort Wayne 31-28 on Wednesday and Tulsa 29-19 on Friday.

Mo Needs Mo' GoalsOf the four goaltenders who have suited up for the Nailers this season, Adam Morrison has the best goals against average, as he enters Saturday's game with a 3.26 mark in that category, with Colin Stevens (3.27), Sean Maguire (3.28), and Will King (3.41) all close by. However, Morrison is still in search of his first victory in a Wheeling uniform. Goal support has had a large influence on the records of the netminders thus far this season. Maguire has had the most offensive support, as the team scores an average of 4.45 goals per game when he is the goaltender of record (8-3-0). Stevens is next up at 4.33 goals of support (2-0-1), and then King checks in third at 3.50 per game (2-1-1). When Morrison has gotten the nod, the Nailers are averaging just 2.20 goals per game (0-5-0), and all five of his starts have been decided by one goal.

Taking on ChewbaccaSaturday night marks the third of six head-to-head meetings between the Nailers and Walleye this season, as well as the second of three battles at Huntington Center. Toledo will look a bit different for the game, as it takes the ice in Chewbacca jerseys for Star Wars Night. This will be the second time that specialty jerseys are worn in this year's set, as Wheeling was victorious at home on Marvel Super Hero Night, November 10th. Both squads have won on home ice, which has been the trend since the Walleye joined the ECHL in 2009. The Nailers are 24-11-3 at WesBanco Arena, while Toledo has gone 23-8-0 in Northwest Ohio. The top scorers for each side in 2017-18 are Reid Gardiner for Wheeling and Mike Borkowski for the Walleye, as both have recorded four points. The Walleye visit the Friendly City later this month on December 30th, while the Nailers won't go to T-Town again until road game number 34 of the year March 30th.