FORT WAYNE, IN — Goals were flying in all over the place on Wednesday night at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, as the Wheeling Nailers wrapped up their season series against the Fort Wayne Komets. Wheeling led by as many as four goals at one point, but the Komets trimmed that lead down to one in the third period. Ultimately, the Nailers came out on top in the highest scoring game of their season, 8-5. Connor Lockhart and Ryan McAllister led the way offensively with four points each. Wheeling has won nine straight games, 12 of its last 13, and thanks to Maine’s regulation loss, the lead atop the North Division is now eight points.

The Nailers got off to a fast start, as they scored twice within the first ten minutes of play. The first goal came off of an offensive zone face-off at the 1:53 mark. Brayden Edwards won the draw back to Brent Johnson, who took his time before delivering a wrist shot from the center point. Edwards got a piece of the shot to give him goals in back-to-back games. Wheeling’s second marker also came moments after a face-off, except this one came in neutral ice.

Ryan McAllister ended up poking the puck into the slot, where Logan Pietila zipped a wrist shot into the left side of the cage. Fort Wayne got on the scoreboard with 5:40 remaining, when Matt Brown capitalized on a turnover by converting on a backhander from the slot.

The second period was an even bigger one for the Nailers, who put four biscuits into the basket. The first of those was a power play strike at the 2:36 mark. Matty De St. Phalle delivered a pass to Matthew Quercia along the right side of the goal line. Quercia turned and banked his shot in off of goaltender Samuel Jonsson’s right leg pad. 2:07 later, Ryan McAllister upped Wheeling’s lead to three, as he took advantage of a steal by Connor Lockhart, then whipped in a wrist shot from beneath the left circle. That chased Jonsson from the Fort Wayne crease, but the Komets didn’t exactly help Nathaniel Day, who was greeted by a goal off of a turnover.

Edwards cashed in for his second of the contest by lifting a backhander up and into the top shelf. Austin Magera’s power play marker gave Fort Wayne something to cheer about for a moment, but the Nailers went back up by four, when Blake Bennett clobbered home a one-timer on the power play from the right face-off dot.

Fans may have thought a four-goal lead was safe, but the Komets made things extremely interesting by scoring three straight goals to start the third period. Matt Copponi picked up a 4-on-4 goal at the one-minute mark, Brady Stonehouse wired in a shorthanded goal 1:29 later, and Thomas Sinclair’s first pro goal, which was also scored shorthanded turned a 6-2 Wheeling lead into a 6-5 advantage for the Nailers.

However, the biggest goal of the night came 16 seconds after Sinclair’s, as Tanner Andrew batted a Craig Armstrong pass out of the air and in to make the score 7-5 in favor of Wheeling. Things calmed down a bit from there, and Lockhart applied the finishing touches to the 8-5 triumph with an empty netter.

Taylor Gauthier collected his seventh straight win in goal for the Nailers, as he made 28 saves on 33 shots. Samuel Jonsson received a no-decision for Fort Wayne, after allowing four goals on 12 shots. Nathaniel day took the loss, as he gave up three goals on 16 shots.

Next up, the Nailers will visit the Toledo Walleye on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Wheeling has two home games remaining in the regular season. The Nailers will host the Cincinnati Cyclones on Tuesday, April 7th at 7:10 p.m., which is the make-up game from December 28th. Then, on Saturday, April 18th, it will be 80’s Night with a post game concert by Tongue ‘N Cheek and a pregame tailgate, as Wheeling faces the Indy Fuel at 7:10 p.m.