photo by: Joe Lovell

The Wheeling Nailers high-five during their game against the Reading Royals on Sunday.

WHEELING – When the Wheeling Nailers face the Reading Royals on Friday night inside Santander Arena, they will do so as the first-place team in the ECHL’s Eastern Conference North Division with a 15-3-1 record and 31 points.

The puck drops at 7.

They will also do so as the hottest team in the league with a 11-game winning streak and points in 13-0-1 outings. They are coming off their first three games-in-three nights set in which, of course, they won all three.

“We’ve had different guys step up each night. We’ve played pretty well and capitalized upon our chances. We’ve had some bounces, obviously, go our way and we’ve had great goaltending,” head coach Derek Army said as the formula to the success. “I think we’ve kind of played to our identity as far as competing, being relentless and doing the things that we, as coaches, expect.

“You don’t get runs like this often during your career, so I think everyone is having fun at the rink.”

Another key to the success is that the Nailers have 14 players under contract to either the AHL or ECHL. But, like Army pointed out, there’s pros and cons.

“It can be easier at times because you have a lot of good players. Now, getting those good players to play good minutes and putting them in good situations can be challenging because you want to give them the best chances at success, but it can also be challenging because you want to help them develop. It’s a double-edged sword at times.”

It also helps to have great goaltending and the Nailers have received outstanding efforts from four that Army mentioned.

“Taylor (Gauthier) and Sergei (Murashov) have both been great for. Of course, Taylor was the Goaltender of the Year last year and Sergei is a workhorse sort of like (Captain Ivan) Drago in Rocky. He just works and works,” Army noted. “We’ve had Luke Richardson who came in and gave us some quality time, as did Jaxon Castor.”

Murashov was the ECHL Rookie of the Week last month, while Mats Lindgren was selected as the AMI Graphics ECHL Plus Performer of the Month for the month of November.

The same two teams meet again Saturday night in the Keystone State.