Nailers Can’t Solve Fuel
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WHEELING -- The Wheeling Nailers entered Sunday's home game with Central Division foe Indy ranked third in the ECHL in penalty kill percentage.
However, when the penalties start to rack up, even the best penalty kill can't keep the puck out of the net.
Wheeling suffered from 10 penalties on Sunday and paid for it as the Fuel netted two power play goals en route to a 4-3 win over the Nailers inside WesBanco Arena.
"It's one of those things with penalty kills if you get over three a game. You can usually kill three off but when they start creeping up to four, five and six, it becomes harder to kill those off," Nailers coach Mark French said. "If you're killing too much, ultimately they are going to find a way in special teams situations to capitalize, which they did."
In front of a turnout of 896 fans, it was the Nailers who got on the board first when rookie Felix Robert recorded Wheeling's second power play goal of the campaign.
Indy's Matt Marcinew was called for high sticking on Robert, who went to the bench with a bloody face, just to return to the ice moments later to deliver the payback punch into the net.
Robert took a pass from Michael Pelech in the left circle and supplied the backdoor netter at the 9:28 mark of the first for the 1-0 edge.
The Nailers' lead was short-lived as Indy's Peter Krieger cashed in on a power play three minutes later. The Fuel added another goal one minute later when Marcinew rang one off the post and in. The goal was reviewed and allowed for a 2-1 Indy upperhand at the first intermission.
"I thought we had some momentum," French said. "At 5-on-5 we seemed to have pretty good momentum but then special teams-wise, we seemed to lose some momentum."
Wheeling pulled even in the second as Pelech provided another assist on a smooth backward pass to teammate Tyler Drevitch who used a back-hander to beat the goalie at the 15:09 mark.
In the third period, Wheeling allowed its second short-handed goal in the last two games, this one by Indy's Seamus Malone, to give Indy the 3-2 cushion.
The Fuel added an insurance goal three minutes later as Krieger tallied his second goal of the day with under 10 minutes to play.
The third rookie to score for Wheeling was Matt Alfaro, who scored his second goal in two nights when Pelech collected his third assist of the afternoon with a nifty between the legs pass back to Alfaro, who secured the back-hander with less than two minutes remaining.
The Nailers' last eight goals have been scored by rookies. The only other two goals this season have come from Michael Joly and Chad Duchesne.
"Drevitch scored a goal you have to score," French said. "He got inside and we had good net front presence and he took a second chance whack at it. It's good to have that secondary scoring but obviously we need more from some more guys."
Wheeling was unable to tie the game as Tom Aubrun stood tall for Indy in net. He finished with 36 saves, while Wheeling's Brandon Halverson stopped 24 shots in his first start with the team.
"For both goalies, it's their first game -- probably in a while," French said. "You knew it was probably going to come on one of these back-to-backs but I felt the goaltending was strong both ways."
Wheeling falls to 0-3-2-0 with the loss as Indy improves to 5-0-0-0 and has an eight-point lead over the Nailers in the division -- making Thursday's game between the two at 6:10 p.m. inside WesBanco Arena even more crucial.
Adding to the importance of Thursday's divisional game for Wheeling is the fact that the Nailers will then have a six-game road trip that won't have them back at WesBanco Arena until Jan. 22. On that road trip, Wheeling will visit Indy three times.
"Every game is big right now as long as we keep making progress," French said. "But again, we play Indy so much so we have to find a way to be successful against them."