WesBanco Arena has produced a huge home ice advantage for the Wheeling Nailers during the 2025-26 season. Last weekend, the Nailers completed a 5-1-0 homestand with a three-game sweep of the defending Kelly Cup Champion Trois-Rivières Lions. Wheeling is now 14-2-1 on home ice and is back at the top of the ECHL standings at 25-7-1, which is good for 51 points. The Nailers will have to spend this weekend away from the Friendly City, as they will play two road contests against the Norfolk Admirals.

TROIS VICTOIRES (THREE VICTORIES)
For the third time this season, the Nailers swept a three-game series against a single opponent, as they bested the Trois-Rivières Lions, 4-3, 5-0, and 4-2 at WesBanco Arena last weekend. On Friday night, Wheeling earned its first victory of the campaign when trailing after two periods, as the Lions led 3-2, before Craig Armstrong and Brent Johnson flipped the score in favor of the Nailers. That was also the third time that Wheeling won a game when trailing by multiple goals. On Saturday night, Maxim Pavlenko tied the ECHL's lead with his third shutout of the season, as he denied all 26 Trois-Rivières shots sent his way. Connor Lockhart had the most notable offensive performance in Saturday's 5-0 triumph, as he recorded one goal and two assists in his 100th professional game. On Sunday, the Nailers led from the very beginning, as Armstrong needed just 12 seconds to score the first of his two goals in the club's fifth consecutive victory.

CAREER YEARS IN THE MAKING
Forward Craig Armstrong led the way for Wheeling with three goals against the Lions, which gives him eight in 29 games on the year . That already surpasses Armstrong's total from his rookie season, when he scored seven goals in 64 games for the Utah Grizzlies. Craig can beat his point total from last season (19) with two points this weekend. Another player who is ready to leave last year's numbers in the dust is leading scorer Logan Pietila. Logan has nine goals, 18 assists, and 27 points in 33 games this season, which are the exact same totals he produced in 69 games a year ago as a rookie. Another player who deserves praise for a career achievement over the weekend is defenseman Emil Pieniniemi, who scored his first two North American professional goals on Saturday and Sunday. Pieniniemi's marker on Saturday was the team's first 4-on-4 goal of the campaign.

DELIVERING THE KNOCKOUT PUNCH
When the Nailers have carried a lead into the third period this season, it has been very bad news for their opponents. Saturday and Sunday were Wheeling's 16th and 17th victories of the season when leading after two periods, which is tied for the second most wins in that scenario in the ECHL (Tahoe leads with 18, South Carolina also has 17). Even more impressive than the 17 wins are the numbers in the columns that follow, which are zeroes (17-0-0). The biggest reason for the success by the Nailers in the third period has been their ability to score, as their 43 goals for and +16 goal differential are their best in any period. Where things become surprising is the shots on goal, as Wheeling has taken its fewest shots in any period during the third (295). However, that equates to a 14.6% shooting percentage, compared to 10.0% in the first period (33/341) and 8.8% in the second period (29/328).

FUN HISTORICAL FACTS
The all-time record book was cracked open a few times over the weekend. Maxim Pavlenko became the latest Wheeling goaltender to deny a penalty shot, as he refused to allow Trois-Rivières' Egor Goriunov to score during Saturday's third period. Nailers netminders have rejected each of the last four penalty shots they've faced and ten of the last 12. Speaking of penalty shots, another year has past since Brendon Hodge's penalty shot goal, which was the last time Wheeling scored on a penalty shot at home. That took place on January 13, 2006, which was 20 years or 7,307 days ago... On Sunday, Craig Armstrong gave the Nailers a 1-0 lead at the 12-second mark of the first period. That was the fastest goal by a Wheeling player in over 28 years, dating back to Don Chase's tally 11 seconds into a March 21, 1997 game against the Columbus Chill. The team record is nine seconds, which was set by Louis Dumont against the Toledo Storm on November 24, 1994 (Thanksgiving). The fastest goal in a game involving the Nailers was seven seconds, which was accomplished by Stepan Timofeyev of the Norfolk Admirals on February 10, 2023.

ADMIRALS RIGHTING THE SHIP
This weekend, the Nailers will wrap up their four-game season series against the Norfolk Admirals, as they make their lone visit to Norfolk Scope Arena for games on Friday and Saturday. Wheeling can clinch the season series with a win, thanks to a pair of 3-2 victories during the club's home-opening weekend in November. The Admirals experienced an extremely rough stretch from November 9th through December 31st, as they went 3-17-0 in 20 games. However, Norfolk has started to turn things around over the last two weekends, as the team won two home games against third-place Reading, then went on the road and swept two contests from second-place Adirondack. One of the main reasons the Admirals have had success has been the performance of goaltender Isaac Poulter. In addition to winning each of the last four games, Poulter has gone 9-6-0 on the season, while all other Norfolk netminders have combined to go 2-13-2. Offensively, Kristóf Papp is on a seven-game goal streak (nine goals during that span) and now leads the team with 12 goals on the season, while Chase Yoder scored four goals on Friday and added two assists on Saturday.

Buy Tickets for Upcoming Games
Fri. Jan. 23 - Frosty Friday
Sat. Jan. 24 - Nail Down Cancer
Sun. Jan. 25 - Postgame Skate (Odd)
Sat. Feb. 7 - Pittsburgh Penguins Night