WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers were on the wrong end of some untimely goals on Sunday, which led to an unpleasant third period and a 6-1 loss to East Division leader Indy inside WesBanco Arena.

Wheeling allowed a goal with 0.4 seconds remaining in the first period to fall behind 1-0 and after tying the game in the second, surrendered another goal with Indy having just 4 seconds left on the power play.

“Those ones in the first two minutes of a period or the last two minutes of a period seem to carry momentum,” Nailers coach Mark French said. “Sometimes that’s the most dangerous part (of a penalty kill). I don’t know if you start to relax at that time on the penalty kill thinking you got it killed and that’s when you get bit.”

Indy finished the game with three power play goals and outscored the Nailers 4-0 in the third period.

Wheeling was limited to 15 shots in the game and only one in the final frame.

“We talked about being busier offensively,” French said.

“I think specifically in the third period. We didn’t get much zone time.”

Former Nailer Cedric Lacroix beat the buzzer in the first as he set up shop in front of the net and awaited a pass from Cliff Watson, before sneaking it into the cage for the 1-0 upperhand.

With the Nailers on the power play in the second, Matt Alfaro found rookie Sean Josling racing up the slot. Josling took the pass and sent the equalizer into the back of the net.

The game was tied for 3 minutes until Mike Lee sent a laser from the left circle and into the cage with 4 seconds to go on the Indy power play.

The 2-1 Indy lead remained in affect until 7:07 into the third when Spencer Watson fought off several Nailers defenders and beat goalie Hayden Hawkey for a 3-1 cushion the Fuel didn’t relinquish.

Lacroix added another goal in the third, along with Joe Sullivan and Tim Shoup.

Cliff Watson dished out three assists for the Fuel.

Hawkey stopped 19 shots for Wheeling, while Billy Christopoulos saved 14 of Wheeling’s 15 shots.

Despite the loss, Wheeling did win two of three games this weekend after a 3-2 shootout win on Friday and a 4-3 overtime win Saturday — both against Fort Wayne.

“It’s always hard to remove the immediacy of what just happened,” French said. “But, we’ll take a step away from it. Obviously, we’ll be seeing a lot of Indy but we’ll evaluate what we did good in the three games this weekend and look at areas where we still need to improve on.”