The march to the playoffs is officially underway, as 20 games remain in the 2025-26 regular season. The Wheeling Nailers begin this week tied with the Adirondack Thunder for first place in the North Division, as the two squads have identical 31-15-6 records, good for 68 points. After going 1-2-1 in four games last week, the Nailers will have three chances to add to their point total this week, as they make their first visit to Rapid City, South Dakota since December of 2019 for a three-game series against the Rush. The games will be played on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and all three will start at 9:05 p.m. Eastern.

FEBRUARY MAKES FIVE
For the second time in their history, the Nailers have posted a winning record during each of the first five months in a season. Wheeling went 5-4-2 in February, led by a 4-2-2 mark in eight contests at WesBanco Arena. That followed up a 2-1-0 October, a 12-2-1 November, a 6-4-0 December, and a 6-4-2 January. The Nailers have 13 games on the docket in March, which will be their second busiest month of the season. The majority of the games will come in series, as Wheeling will play three-game sets against Rapid City, Trois-Rivières, and Worcester, a two-game series against Adirondack, and a solo match with Reading, to go along with the one game already played against Fort Wayne. The 2025-26 squad will be looking to join the 2003-04 team, which has been the lone season to feature a winning record in six consecutive months.

THE RACE FOR FIRST
If you've begun to scoreboard watch, you are not alone, and for good reason, as the Nailers are in a tight race for the top spot in the North Division. Wheeling enters the week tied with the Adirondack Thunder for first place, while the Maine Mariners sit three points back with one game in hand on both the Nailers and Thunder. The Mariners ended Adirondack's ten-game winning streak with a 5-0 shutout in Glens Falls on Friday night, and are now on an eight-game winning streak themselves. Maine will travel to Trois-Rivières on Friday, before hosting the Thunder on Sunday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Sunday will be the lone game of the week for Adirondack, whose next five games are all against the Nailers and Mariners. The Reading Royals are four points behind Maine, and could close that gap with games in Greensboro on Saturday and Sunday.

ROCK SOLID DEFENSE
Goals have been difficult to come by for Wheeling's opponents this season, as the Nailers rank fifth in the ECHL with 2.52 goals against per game. On Friday night at WesBanco Arena, the Kalamazoo Wings had a hard time putting shots on net, let alone into the 4X6. Kalamazoo took ten shots all game, and was limited to three over the final 42:05. The ten shots allowed were the fewest by Wheeling in team history. The previous record was 13, which was achieved over 30 years ago on March 12, 1995. That game was slightly more stressful than Friday's 7-2 blowout, as the Thunderbirds scored four times in the third period to overcome a 2-1 deficit and defeat the Toledo Storm, 5-2. Taylor Gauthier, who set a career-high with 53 saves in the first game of February, needed just eight stops in his final February start to earn his 60th win in a Nailers uniform, tying Andy Franck for the most in club history.

Q GOES FOR 200
While a lot of attention has been focused on Taylor Gauthier's pursuit of the team's all-time wins record, fellow fourth year Nailer Matthew Quercia also has some milestones in sight. Quercia's next game will be his 200th as a pro, as he has played in 193 games with the Nailers and six AHL matches with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Matthew's 193 games with Wheeling places him into a tie for 11th place in team history with Brock Woods. He currently sits four games away from cracking the top-ten (Darren Schwartz, 197), and he is seven games away from becoming the eighth player to suit up in at least 200 games. Quercia is also knocking on the door of becoming the 35th player to score at least 100 career points with Wheeling (currently has 96), and he is ten penalty minutes away from a third straight season with ten or more goals, ten or more assists, and 100 or more penalty minutes.

A WEEK IN THE BLACK HILLS
For just the second time ever, the Nailers and Rapid City Rush will meet up for a three-game series, as the two teams go head-to-head at The Monument. Wheeling swept the previous set in South Dakota, winning by scores of 4-3, 3-1, and 3-2 in December of 2019. These will be the only three games for the Nailers against the Mountain Division this season, while the Rush just saw a North Division opponent, as they went 1-1-1 at home against Worcester two weeks ago. Rapid City has dropped five of its last six games to fall 13 points back of the final playoff spot in the Mountain Division. One of the glaring statistics from the Mountain Division highlights the group's wide-open style of play. All eight Mountain Division clubs rank in the ECHL's top-ten in shots on goal per game. The Rush rank tenth in that category at 32.02, while averaging the most shots on goal against in the entire league with 38.56. Two major offensive threats to watch for Rapid City are forwards Ryan Wagner and Blake Bennett, who are both averaging over a point-per-game over the last two seasons (149 in 144 for Wagner, 99 in 91 for Bennett). Connor Murphy has handled the majority of the goaltending duties, and is 14-14-2, despite ranking tied for 18th with a .915 save percentage.

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Fri. Mar. 13 - Frosty Friday
Sat. Mar. 14 - Margaritaville Night