Wheeling Nailers Weekly Report, Feb. 13

Last Week

Tue. 2/6 Toledo Walleye 6 @ WHEELING NAILERS 2Wydo (Schulze, Tiffels)Meurs (Brown, Taylor)Morrison- 30/34 (L), King- 7/8

Fri. 2/9 WHEELING NAILERS 2 @ Orlando Solar Bears 5Tiffels (Zink, Brown)Wydo (Sorkin)King- 29/34

Sun. 2/11 WHEELING NAILERS 6 @ Orlando Solar Bears 5Meurs (Milan, Tolkinen)Wydo (Tiffels, Sorkin)Bourbonnais (Wydo, Schulze)Meurs (Zink, Brown)Bourbonnais (Rissling)Zink (Sorkin, Bourbonnais)Morrison- 38/43

Mon. 2/12 WHEELING NAILERS 4 @ Orlando Solar Bears 1Bourbonnais (Turner, Taylor)Schulze (Bourbonnais, Zink)Schulze (Sorkin, Meurs)Wydo (unassisted)Morrison- 41/42

Last week, the Wheeling Nailers picked up two wins on their trip to Orlando, earning their 60th standings point of the season, as they look forward to their final two home games of February. The week got off to a tough start, as Wheeling suffered back-to-back losses to the Toledo Walleye and Orlando Solar Bears, falling 6-2 at home to Toledo on Tuesday, before a 5-2 defeat against the Solar Bears on Friday. Cody Wydo and Garrett Meurs gave the Nailers a 2-1 lead on Tuesday, before the Walleye ended the night with the final five strikes. On Friday, Freddie Tiffels and Wydo both erased one-goal deficits, before a three-goal run by Orlando. On Sunday morning, Wheeling rode an excellent start into the win column, as Meurs, Wydo, and Riley Bourbonnais staked the visitors to a 3-0 lead at Amway Center. Meurs and Bourbonnais added their second markers of the contest in the middle frame, but Dylan Zink's power play tally in the third period ended up being the difference in a 6-5 victory over the Solar Bears. On Monday night, the second period was the big one for the Nailers, as Bourbonnais opened the scoring, and was followed by Kevin Schulze, who turned on the red light twice. Wydo capped the scoring with an empty netter, while Adam Morrison made 41 saves to collect his second win of the weekend.

The Nailers enter the final 20 games of the regular season in a tie for second place in the North Division along with the Adirondack Thunder. The two squads are two points behind the Manchester Monarchs for the top spot. With Sunday's victory, Wheeling earned at least one win against all 13 opponents on its schedule in 2017-18. That triumph also ended a nine-game skid in the head-to-head series against Orlando, as the Nailers knocked off the Solar Bears for the first time ever. Cody Wydo scored a goal in all four games last week, extending his point streak to 12 games, which is the longest active streak in the ECHL, and is tied for the third longest streak in the league this season. Adam Morrison stopped Erik Bradford's penalty shot in Tuesday's tilt, giving Wheeling netminders five consecutive saves on penalty shots, dating back to the 2015-16 campaign. All five saves have been made by different goalies. Wheeling has won all four of its completed season series, and finished the year with an 8-2-1 record against the South Division.

This Week

Fri. 2/16 Fort Wayne Komets @ WHEELING NAILERS, 7:05Sat. 2/17 Cincinnati Cyclones @ WHEELING NAILERS, 7:05Sun. 2/18 WHEELING NAILERS @ Reading Royals, 4:00

This week, the Wheeling Nailers will play their final stretch of three games in three days this season, which will end up completing a run of five games in eight days. On Friday night, the Nailers will look to exact revenge on the Fort Wayne Komets, who picked up a 7-3 win at WesBanco Arena on February 3rd. Wheeling is 1-3-0 against Fort Wayne, who trails Toledo by three points for first place in the North Division. The Komets are 11-1-1 in their last 13 games, and have scored at least five goals in each of their last seven victories. On Saturday night, the Nailers will welcome the Cincinnati Cyclones to town, having gone 1-2-1 in that season series. Wheeling has earned points in each of its two home games against Cincinnati, who enters the week on a five-game winning streak, while sitting in a tie for third place in the Central Division. On Sunday afternoon, the Nailers will play the first of six straight road contests, when they travel to Reading for the final time in 2017-18. Wheeling currently leads the Royals by three points, and has gone 3-3-2 in the first eight clashes of the year. Starting on Sunday, Wheeling will play 14 of its last 18 regular season games against the North Division.

Upcoming Home Games/PromotionsFri. Feb. 16- Olympics Night, Frosty FridaySat. Feb. 17- Ladies Night, Pregame Wine TastingWed. Mar. 7- Education Day Game #2 (10:45 a.m. start)Fri. Mar. 9- Frosty FridaySat. Mar. 10- Pittsburgh Penguins Night

Nailers LeadersGoals: 26, Reid GardinerAssists: 37, Nick SorkinPoints: 50, Cody WydoPenalty Minutes: 108, Garrett MeursPlus/Minus: +13, Riley BourbonnaisWins: 12, Adam MorrisonGoals Against Average: 3.04, Adam MorrisonSave Percentage: .908, Adam MorrisonShutouts: 0

North Division Standings1. Manchester Monarchs 29-16-3-1, 62 pts.2. WHEELING NAILERS 28-20-4-0, 60 pts.3. Adirondack Thunder 28-19-2-2, 60 pts.4. Reading Royals 27-19-3-0, 57 pts.5. Worcester Railers 21-20-4-2, 48 pts.6. Brampton Beast 17-22-5-3, 42 pts.