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Nailers Shut Out by Walleye; Drop Third Straight, 8th in 10

TOLEDO, Ohio -- The Wheeling Nailers threw everything they had at the net on Sunday afternoon, as they recorded 40 shots on goal at Huntington Center against the Toledo Walleye.

Unfortunately, they ran into the hot goaltending of John Lethemon, who stopped every single one of them to earn a point in his 13th straight outing. Toledo gave him four goals of support to pick up its first home win of the season series, 4-0.

Despite the score, the Nailers turned in a decent first period, as they outshot Toledo, 15-8. However, a goal with 2:32 left in the stanza gave the Walleye the lead. Cedric Lacroix led the way on a transition rush, as he delivered a pass to Drew Worrad, who stepped into the right circle, and drove a wrist shot along the ice and into the net.

There was plenty of physicality throughout the match, and in the middle frame, three sets of matching minor penalties were handed out. There was also a goal in period two, and that went to Toledo. Gordie Green dropped a pass to Conlan Keenan in the left circle, then skated to the right post, where Keenan put a return feed on his tape for a tap-in and a 2-0 advantage.

Wheeling poured 13 more shots on target in the third period for a game total of 40, but the Walleye tacked on two insurance markers in the closing minutes. Lacroix won a face-off back to Charlie Curti, who launched a one-timer under the crossbar, then Conlan Keenan threw in an empty netter for a 4-0 final.

The Nailers and Walleye will make their way to WesBanco Arena for a re-match on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m.

HEARTLANDERS 7, NAILERS 2 (SATURDAY)

Saturday night was one of the more challenging nights of the season for the Wheeling Nailers, who suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of the Iowa Heartlanders.

Iowa scored multiple goals in each period of a 7-2 result at WesBanco Arena.

Former Nailer Bo Hanson was one of four players with multiple points for Iowa, who got two goals from Brendan Robbins. Samuel Tremblay and Felix Pare were the Wheeling goal scorers, while David Drake pitched in with a pair of assists.