photo by: Joe Lovell

The Wheeling Nailers' Craig Armstrong protects the puck on the ice Wednesday during the Nailers’ Education Day game inside WesBanco Arena against the Reading Royals.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers played host to their annual Education Day game on Wednesday morning at WesBanco Arena, and a crowd of 4,803 students were taught a lesson in defense and goaltending. Connor Kurth scored the lone goal of the game midway through the third period on a power play for the Reading Royals, who skated away with a 1-0 road win.

Wheeling struggled to get the legs going in the first period, but Taylor Gauthier was dialed in early, as the two sides played to a scoreless draw, while the Royals led in shots, 10-3. The Nailers had a stronger start to the middle frame, but neither team could break through, as the score stayed 0-0 into the second intermission.

The key moments in the match took place in the third period. The Nailers got a power play at the 6:37 mark, but gave up a 3-on-1 break, which resulted in Gauthier making a save on Ben Meehan. However, Connor Lockhart received a penalty after the whistle for engaging in an altercation with Meehan, which eventually gave Reading a man advantage. The Royals cashed in on that power play, as Kyle Haskins’ high shot stunned Gauthier, who was unable to recover to deny Connor Kurth, who swept in the loose puck on the left side of the crease. Wheeling mustered just 16 shots on goal, and suffered the 1-0 defeat.

Yaniv Perets only needed to make 16 saves to earn the shutout win for Reading. Taylor Gauthier came up on the short end for the Nailers, despite stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced.

The Nailers will continue their homestand with two big games over the weekend, as they will face the Adirondack Thunder on Friday and Saturday nights, with both contests starting at 7:10. Friday night is a Frosty Friday with select $2 beers. Saturday is Margaritaville Night, which will have a post game tropical tribute concert, specialty jerseys, and more.