Walleye Swim Past Nailers With Strong Third Period
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WHEELING - Wheeling saw its string of three consecutive successful home-openers halted Saturday night before a fourth straight home-opening sellout at WesBanco Arena as a crowd of 4,829 watched Toledo skate away with a 5-2 East Coast Hockey League victory.
The Nailers (0-1-1 1) led the Walleye (2-1-0 4) 2-1 after two periods, but the wheels fell off in the third 2-minute stanza as the visitors found the net four times.
"I thought we played well for the first 40 minutes," first-year Wheeling head coach Nate DiCassmirro said. "Toledo is a top team, not only in our division but in the entire league. They are a good hockey team for a reason."
Toledo's Tanner Dickinson jammed home a rebound at 4:09 to even things at 2 before the Walleye took the lead for good on Kaden Bohlsen's laser on a 2-on-0 that zipped past Nailers netminder Nolan Lalonden at 8:16.
Tag Bertuzzi, the youngest son of former NHL enforcer Todd Bertuzzi, chipped the puck over top of Lalonde after slipping behind the defense at 15:37. Reilly Funk capped the three-goal outburst with an empty-netter at 16:02.
"Things got away from us a little. We got away from our foundation and the principles of what makes us who we are," DiCasmirro added. "We're going to take a look at that and it will be addressed. We're always looking to get better. I thought we were better overall tonight than we were from a structural standpoint. We've still got some work to do."
Wheeling took a 1-0 lead at 4:53 of the first period when Kevin Gursoy skated the puck deep into the right circle before sending a perfect pass to Remy Parker on the back doorstep. Parker slammed it home for his first goal of the season.
Mitchell Lewandoski's blast from the left point through traffic found its way into the back of the net to tie things at 8:07 of the first period.
Things remained that way until just past the midway point of the second period. Craig Armstrong kept the play alive high in the offensive zone, then fired a shot on goal from the left point that Toledo netminder Jonathan Lemieux made the save on, but the rebound kicked over to Wheeling's Dustin Geregach, who slid a pass back into the slot where team captain Justin Taylor directed the puck into the right side of the net.
Lemieux won for the second straight night, stopping 21 of 23 shots. Lalonde took the loss with 34 saves on 38 shots.
The schedule heats up in a big way for the Nailers, as they will play 25 games in the next eight weeks. Wheeling gets the upcoming week started on Friday with a 7:35 p.m. road game against the Fort Wayne Komets. The Nailers will then return home on Saturday at 7:10 p.m. for the first of two clashes with the Cincinnati Cyclones. The promotion is Nailers Nightmare, which will feature a spooky and sporty haunted house, in addition to Table and Treat from our partners. Following round two of Wheeling vs. Cincinnati on Sunday at 4:10 p.m., fans will be able to skate with the entire team.