For the third time this season the Nailers put up seven goals at US Bank Arena,
as Wheeling defeated the Cincinnati Cyclones 7-1. The win extends the Nailers
lead over the Cyclones in the North Division to five points.
The Nailers
scored on their first shot of the game as Nick Petersen fired a wrist shot on
the glove side high past goaltender Chet Pickard. Cincinnati responded just 30
seconds later as Scott Reynolds banked a shot off a body in front, which
deflected into the net past Nailers goaltender Peter Delmas to tie the game at
one. Kelly Miller broke the tie at 15:47 when he broke into the zone one-on-one
and used the defenseman as a screen to rip a shot past Pickard, to give Wheeling
a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.
In the second, the Nailers
outshot the Cyclones 11-5 and was able to score on two of them. Joey Haddad led
a three-on-one rush into the zone, and used his trailers as a decoy, as he took
a wrist shot in the top shelf of the net giving the Nailers 3-1 lead. The
Nailers made it 4-1, just as a power play came to an end. David Urquhart fired a
slapshot from the point which pin-balled off the stick of Alex Smigelski and
right through the five-hole of Pickard.
In the third the Nailers
continued to pull away, as Ben Street scored just 51 seconds into the final
period of regulation netting his team leading 20th goal of the year. Mikael
Bedard received a cross ice feed from Mike Gershon and wristed the puck into the
net on the power play to make the score 6-1. The Nailers Nick Petersen scored
his second of the game on the power play at 12:29 to give Wheeling the
commanding 7-1 lead. The final eight minutes of the game became a little chippy
marred with fights, but the Nailers would hang on to secure the 7-1 win. Peter
Delmas stopped 29 of 30 shots, to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The
Nailers will open up a thee game in three day set on Friday in Johnstown against
the Trenton Devil, beginning at 7:35 p.m.
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