Peter Delmas made multiple large saves between the pipes, and Adam Ross helped to set up two goals for the Wheeling Nailers, who picked up two gigantic points on Wednesday night. Wheeling defeated the Elmira Jackals 4-1 at First Arena, bringing them within three points of the Jackals for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

The latter part of the first period featured a good amount of scoring, starting with the Jackals’ first tally at the 12:21 mark. Rob Bellamy intercepted a pass in center ice, and quickly turned the other way. After splitting the defense, Bellamy found the twine, beating Peter Delmas with a quick wrist shot on his stick side. The Nailers were quick to answer, evening the score 46 seconds later. Adam Ross kept the puck in at the left point, and tossed a shot toward the net. Paul Crowder got a deflection on the shot, knocking it in past Brian Stewart. A little less than four minutes later, Ross and his teammates were at it again. After a rush by Peter Lenes, Chris Barton fed Ross at the point, who got a deflection from Zack Torquato to put the visitors on top.

Wheeling added to the lead in the second period. Denver Manderson sped down the left side and took a shot on goal from the bottom of the circle that was turned aside by Stewart. However, the rebound deflected into the slot, where it was flipped in on a backhand shot by Ben Farrer, as the Nailers took a two-goal lead into the third.

Peter Delmas and the defense made that lead stand, as Delmas made a couple of big saves to keep his team on top. With 38 seconds left in the contest, Peter Lenes iced the victory with his tenth goal in a Wheeling uniform, and 17th overall on the season, as the Nailers picked up the 4-1 victory.

Delmas’ tenth win of the season was a 29-save effort, while Brian Stewart took the loss, making 35 saves on 38 shots for the Jackals.

The Nailers and Jackals will meet up again on Friday night, with a 7:35 face-off scheduled at WesBanco Arena.

Andrew Hotham led the Nailers with four points, and Peter Lenes scored two goals in the Nailers 5-2 victory over the Toledo Walleye. Toledo gave up seven consecutive power plays, three of which the Nailers capitalized on.

The Nailers started off the first period quickly with several good chances. Paul Crowder’s shot from the left circle 49 seconds in was knocked away by Toledo goaltender Dustin Carlson, while Zack Torquato nearly scored moments later. A hard hit along the near boards on Cody Chupp by Matt Krug led to Adam Ross stepping in and dropping the gloves with Krug. Zack Torquato was called for boarding, and Toledo’s power play was able to capitalize. Bryan Rufenach sent a wrist shot from the left circle high on Killeen to put the Walleye up 1-0, with help from Joey Martin and Andrej Nestrasil. The Nailers had a 5-on-3 opportunity, where Chris Barton and Jordon Southorn both had great chances, but were stopped by Carlson. Phil Rauch was called for high-sticking with under a minute left to give the Nailers a power play opportunity to start the second.

While the Nailers were unable to score on the lingering penalty from the first period, they were able to take advantage of two consecutive delay of game penalties to Rauch. Chupp started the scoring for the Nailers, with Torquato and Andrew Hotham picking up assists. On the second penalty, Southorn took a shot from the slot that was deflected off Krug for the Nailers’ second goal – Southorn’s first with the Nailers. Hotham notched his second point of the night on the goal with the second assist. A flurry in front of the net with 5:08 remaining in the period nearly resulted in another Nailers goal. Hotham hit the post, while Chupp’s shot was knocked down in front of the net.

Nearly the first five minutes of the third period turned into a goaltending battle, as the two teams exchanged chances. Nestrasil gave the Nailers their seventh consecutive power play at 4:16 on a slashing call. For his third goal in four games, Petersen sent a rocket from the right circle, above Carlson’s shoulder a minute into the penalty to give the Nailers a 3-1 lead. Southorn and Hotham picked up the assists, with Hotham earning his third point of the game. Lombardi was called for slashing at 6:01, giving the Walleye their third power play of the night. However, they were unable to convert, as the Nailers killed Lombardi’s penalty. Peter Lenes scored his 15th of the season, and eighth since coming to Wheeling, unassisted at 8:34 from the left circle. Three minutes later, David Gilbert, recently sent down from Rockford, cut the Nailers lead in half, with assists from Rufenach and Gleason Fournier. Toledo pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, but Lenes scored his second of the game, with another assist from Hotham, to bring the Nailers back to a three-goal lead to finalize their 5-2 win.

The Nailers head to Elmira Wednesday night to take on the Jackals before coming back to Wheeling on Friday for the second half of a home-and-home against Elmira at 7:35.

Two teams that saw each other many times last season locked horns at WesBanco Arena on Saturday night for only the second time this season. After a game earlier in the year that saw the Wings edge the Nailers 6-5, many people were looking forward to an offensive explosion from both teams. However, that was not the case, as defense took center stage in the second meeting of the season. The Kalamazoo Wings left WesBanco Arena with a 2-1 victory over the Wheeling Nailers.

The Nailers headed on the power play and at 4:52, and Nick Petersen found a rebound in front of the net and stuffed it home to make it 1-0 Nailers. Petersen picked up his second of the season, with the helpers going to Zack Torquato and Olivier Dame-Malka. Despite being outshot 9-6, the Nailers took a 1-0 lead into the locker room. Patrick Killeen played a phenomenal first period, and was tested on all nine shots.

Patrick Killeen made what many people will call save of the year in the second period on Kalamazoo’s Nick Sirota, and the Nailers came back the other way on a couple of nice chances on Riley Gill. However, Gill was equal to the task. At the end of the second period, the Nailers were outshooting the Wings by a 21-17 count, and a 15-8 count for the second period.

After a Zack Torquato hooking penalty, Patrick Killeen’s shutout streak came to an end at 12:37 of the third period on a one-time power play goal by Dustin Cloutier. Cloutier’s third goal of the year was assisted by Darren Archibald and Justin Taylor. Darryl Bootland gave the Wings their first lead of the game at 17:28, with his 13th goal of the season, from Nick Sirota to make it 2-1 Wings. The Nailers took a timeout with 1:33 remaining, and then pulled Patrick Killeen on the ensuing faceoff. Former Wheeling Nailer Elgin Reid took a high sticking penalty with 1:19 remaining, giving the Nailers a six-on-four advantage. Peter Lenes tried to take the puck coast-to-coast, and Riley Gill came up with the sprawling glove save. Kalamazoo took at timeout with 18 seconds remaining in the third period. Bodies went flying all over the ice, and the Nailers had a few opportunities. However, they were not able to get the puck past Riley Gill.

Riley Gill was the winning goaltender, stopping 31 of 32 shots. Patrick Killeen took the loss in net for the Nailers, stopping 26 of 28 shots. Gill improved to 15-9-1-2 on the year, while patrick Killeen falls to 13-10-2-1 for the season. Killeen’s season-high shutout streak lasted 209:54.
The Nailers will return to action tomorrow night at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown for a 6:05 meeting with the Toledo Walleye.

The Wheeling Nailers play next at WesBanco Arena on Friday, February 3rd , 2012 at 7:35 p.m. when they take on the Elmira Jackals. All Nailers games can be heard live on the MIX 97.3 FM and www.wheelingnailers.com, and all road games can be seen live on RTV 9 and America One Networks at b2livetv.com.

The Nailers took charge to start the first period, charging into the Royals’ end. Jordon Southorn put a shot on goal and was blocked by goaltender Michael Hutchinson. Peter Lenes picked up the rebound, but his shot went wide of the goal. Hutchinson made another save on Zack Torquato, and the crossbar stopped Brian Day, before Mickael Bedard was called for holding. Thirty seconds into Bedard’s penalty, Paul Crowder joined him in the box for high-sticking. The Nailers killed both penalties, but the Royals struck first, as Matt Schepke scored his eighth goal of the season on a wrist-shot from the left circle, after a nifty play at the blueline by Casey Haines. Wheeling earned their first power play opportunity of the night at 16:21. Chris Barton tied the game, as his one-timer from the slot sailed past Hutchinson. Crowder and Southorn picked up assists on the goal.

Reading wasted little time pulling ahead by one. Ray Macias picked up a rebound in the right side of the crease, and knocked the puck behind Peter Delmas just under three minutes into the second period. Yannick Tifu and Todd Griffith, two players who play well against Wheeling, picked up assists on the goal. Southorn put the Nailers back on the penalty kill, but the Royals’ power play was unable to convert. Lenes tipped in his 14th of the season shortly after the power play expired, off of a shot by recent Wilkes-Barre re-assignment Nick Petersen, with help from Andrew Hotham. Cody Chupp tried to give the Nailers the go-ahead goal off the face-off with just under ten minutes to go in the period, but Hutchinson made a quick glove save.

Wheeling started the pressure early in the third period, spending much of the first two minutes in the offensive zone. Hutchinson stood strong for Reading, as he stopped three good shots early on. Petersen had another chance with 15:49 left in the period. After the save that drew a whistle, Reading’s Ryan Button and Wheeling’s Ryan Schnell were both sent to the penalty box, with matching roughing penalties for two minutes of 4-on-4 action. Haines gave Reading another lead at 9:58. After fanning on the initial shot, Schepke notched his second point of the night, while Dale Mitchell was credited with the second assist. Schnell racked up 14 minutes in penalties for spearing Olivier Labelle, sending the Nailers on a four-minute penalty kill, and Schnell to the locker room with a ten-minute misconduct. With 1:54 left in the Nailers’ penalty kill, Kenny Ryan was assessed a roughing penalty, negating the rest of the Schnell penalty. The Nailers called their timeout with 1:51 left and pulled Delmas for the extra attacker. Everett Sheen sent the puck down the ice and despite a solid effort, Barton was unable to beat the puck back, giving the Royals their final goal in a 4-2 win.