PORTLAND, ME- For the third straight game in the North Division Final Series, the home team has prevailed. On Monday night, that was the Maine Mariners, who roared out of the gates with three goals in the first period, and built as much as a 5-0 lead before the match was half over. The Wheeling Nailers showed life with three late goals, but the lead was too large to overcome, as the Mariners collected a 6-3 win at Cross Insurance Arena. Maine leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1, with two more games in the next two days.

The first period was far from ideal for the Nailers, as Maine came out flying with three goals. The first marker came on the power play at the 6:58 mark. Ben Allison battled his way through a check and delivered a pass to Robert Cronin in the right circle. Cronin turned toward the net and lifted a shot into the top-right corner. 2:42 later, the Mariners turned on the red light again. Zachary Massicotte took a slap shot from just inside of the blueline, which got slowed down by a Wheeling stick. That change of direction created a wobbly shot and resulted in the goal being scored. The Nailers had a chance to turn the momentum around on the power play, but in addition to coming up empty on the chance, they surrendered a goal ten seconds after the Maine penalty expired. The penalized player was Ben Allison, who received a breakaway pass from Max Andreev. Allison deked from his forehand to his backhand and slipped a shot under Taylor Gauthier.

Things continued to spiral in the wrong direction in the middle frame, as the Mariners added to their lead. Brooklyn Kalmikov swept in a wrist shot from the top of the right circle on the power play at the 4:39 mark, then Antonio Venuto kicked an Allison pass up to his stick, which allowed him to elevate a shot up and over Gauthier’s left leg pad. The Nailers got on the scoreboard with 4:47 remaining during four-on-four action. Logan Pietila let a wrist shot go from the top of the left circle, which sailed into the top-right corner of the twine.

Max Andreev gave Maine its third power play goal of the night for a 6-1 lead at the 7:05 mark of the third period, but Wheeling got a pair of goals during the final seven minutes to carry a little something into Tuesday. Zach Urdahl recorded his second shorthanded goal of the postseason at the 13:03 mark, when he finished off a two-on-one break with David Breazeale. Then, with 3:29 to go, Blake Bennett buried a one-timer from the right circle on the power play. That ended a run of 27 straight man advantages without a goal for the Nailers, and it made the final score 6-3.

Luke Cavallin picked up the win for the Mariners, as he made 35 saves on 38 shots. Taylor Gauthier allowed five goals on 18 shots in the defeat for Wheeling, before Gabriel D’Aigle went 11-of-12 in relief.

The two teams will return to the ice again on Tuesday in Maine for game four at 7:00 p.m. Game five will also be in Maine on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Games six and seven (both if necessary) would return to WesBanco Arena on Saturday, May 16th and Monday, May 18th. Playoff tickets are available now by calling (304) 234-GOAL or visiting wheelingnailers.com.