photo by: Joe Lovell

Photo by Joe Lovell The Wheeling Nailers' Taylor Gauthier makes a save Saturday against the Maine Mariners during the Nailers' game six win inside WesBanco Arena.

WHEELING – For the first time in a decade, and only the second time in franchise history, the Wheeling Nailers will play a Game 7 inside WesBanco Arena.

Emil Pieniniemi couldn’t have picked a better time to score his first Kelly Cup playoff goal. The 21-year-old Finland native found the back of the net with a laser from just inside the blue line with three minutes remaining in overtime to give the Nailers a thrill-packed, 2-1, victory Saturday night over the Maine Mariners before an enthusiastic crowd of 2,731.

Pieniniemi, a third-round draft pick (91st overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023, took a drop pass from Zach Urdahl and zipped the rubber disc past Mariners’ goalie Luke Cavallin to tie the Eastern Conference semifinals at three games apiece. The deciding game will be played on Monday night at 7:10 in the Friendly City.

“It feels good. I saw some space and shoot it,” Pieniniemi, the Game’s No. 1 star, said outside a jubilant Nailers’ locker room. “It’s a great win for our team. I believe in our team.”

The only other Game 7 in downtown Wheeling came in 2016 when Riley Brace scored in the extra session to defeat Reading 4-3 in a similar series.

With the hard-earned victory, the Nailers (6-2-2) remained perfect at home in five tries, something that wasn’t lost by first-year head coach Ryan Papaioannou.

“I thought we were good tonight. In this series we’ve been a different team on home ice,” he said. “That’s why we played so hard all season to make sure we have a Game 7 on our home ice.”

The power-play goal was also assisted on by Brayden Edwards.

“I said before the game that our power play needed to score a timely goal,” Papaioannou said. “It’s great that we scored one when we were down 4-1 (in Game 5), but tonight was that timely power-play goal.”

Pieniniemi’s game-winner rewarded goaltender Taylor Gauthier with the win. The 29-year-old, who is also under a Penguins contract, stopped 31of the 32 shots he faced. However, none were bigger than the right pad denial he made on Ben Allison’s breakaway in overtime.

Cavallin made 46 saves on 48 shots for Maine.

Wheeling came out with a sense of desperation in the first period as they outshot Maine, 12-6. Both teams had an opportunity on the power play, but the contest was scoreless after 20 minutes.

Defense and goaltending continued to shine on both sides during the middle frame, but at the 5:31 mark, Wheeling finally broke through with the opening goal. Urdahl carried the puck into the right side of the offensive zone with Craig Armstrong flying toward the net. Urdahl left the puck for Nolan Renwick in the mid-slot and Renwick fired a shot into the left side of the cage for a 1-0 lead..

Maine drew even in the third period at the 8:15 mark to square the score. The puck bounced to Michael Underwood, who drove a shot from the high slot past Gauthier and into the left side of the twine. The goal was Underwood’s first as a pro.

Despite a 15-5 shots advantage in the third period, the Nailers couldn’t tickle the twine as overtime loomed.

LOOSE PUCKS

– Monday night will be Wheeling’s seventh Game 7 all-time, with the Nailers holding a 4-2 record. The others are: 2009 North Division Semifinal: 2-1 overtime loss at Cincinnati; 2011 Eastern Conference Semifinal: 4-3 overtime win at Greenville; 2015 Central Division Semifinal: 2-1 overtime loss at Toledo; 2016 Eastern Conference Semifinal: 4-3 overtime win vs. Reading; 2016 Eastern Conference Final: 5-2 win at South Carolina and 2022 Central Division Semifinal: 3-2 overtime win at Fort Wayne.

– Scratches for Wheeling in Game 6 were Daniel Laatsch, Jack Works, Tommy Budnick and Connor Lockhart.

– There were only 12 minutes in penalties assessed, with each team collecting three minor infractions.

– Monday night’s winner will play the survivor of the other Eastern Conference semifinal series, South Carolina-Florida. If the Sting Rays overcome a 3-1 deficit (Game 5 was Sunday), Wheeling, with a win Monday, would have home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, if the Everblades win, either the Nailers or Mariners would be headed to Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla.