Nailers Fall In Central Division Finals
Joe Lovell Trending
WHEELING - With their playoff lives on the line, the Wheeling Nailers battled through regulation against the Toledo Walleye on Friday inside WesBanco Arena, but the Walleye proved too tall a task in the Central Division Finals, delivering on their second sweep of the playoffs to remain unbeaten in postseason play in a 3-2 victory against the Nailers.
Toledo's Riley Sawchuk slapped home a power play goal five minutes into overtime to pound the final nail into the Nailers' coffin and end what had been a physical, back-and-forth affair.
"Definitely one that we obviously would've liked a different result from," Nailers head coach Derek Army said.
"I credit the guys heavily, because two years ago we got swept, and in game four we didn't do anything, we had nothing in the tank. For these guys to come in, push the way we did, fight back and even have a couple of great looks there in the third, unfortunate the way it ends but that's a really good hockey team.
"Realistically, three of these games could've swung either way. Three one-goal games, two overtime games- it's tough when your season ends but I'm very proud of these guys for the effort they put in and their ability to be resilient and buy into each other."
The game remained scoreless through the first period, but far from tedious, with both teams dealing out punishment along the boards and putting shots on-goal.
Wheeling's Dillon Hamaliuk broke the ice for the Nailers with 11:51 to play, crashing down on the net following a shot on goal to ricochet the puck through.
With 3:06 remaining in the period, Brandon Hawkins netted the equalizer for Toledo, as he roofed a wrist shot off of the crossbar and in from the right side of the slot.
Either team put through a puck in the third period as well. Toledo's Chase Gresock fired a shot over the shoulder of Wheeling's Taylor Gauthier and scored with 18:28 showing on the clock.
The Nailers drew even on the power play. Jordan Martel set up Justin Lee for a center point one-timer, which was tipped home by Justin Addamo with 10:43 left on the clock.
For the second time in the series, the contest progressed to overtime. Both sides received a power play in the extra session. Unfortunately, Wheeling came up empty, and Toledo cashed in. Orrin Centazzo lost his helmet and left the ice in favor of Riley Sawchuk. Sawchuk ended up receiving a pass from Alexandre Doucet and snapping a shot into the top-left corner of the goal to end the game 3-2 for the Walleye.
Jan Bednar picked up the win for Toledo, as he made 24 saves on 26 shots. Taylor Gauthier stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced in his playoff debut for the Nailers.
The 2023-24 season was the 32nd in team history for the Nailers.
"I'm going to remember their resiliency first," Army said of his team this year. "Just the buy-in and the belief in what we were building. The injuries- Justin Lee was basically taped together, Hamaliuk, [Jordan] Frasca, Gauthier, you go down the list and every guy had something and just kept going. They could've easily said 'Ah, I'm out,' and we'll have a few guys that have surgery after tonight but they just kept playing.
"I think that speaks to the mentality we had, very easily these guys could've said 'I'm done,' but they were all-in right down to the very last second. That's what I'm most proud of, these guys buying in to being Wheeling Nailers. I think that meant something. I don't know if it always has in teams past but this team understands what it means to be a Wheeling Nailers. Unfortunately it just ended short."