The teams with the top two records in the ECHL collided on Saturday night at Santander Arena, with first place overall going to the winner.
When the night was done, it was the Wheeling Nailers who prevailed, 3-1 over the Reading Royals. Wheeling got a 37-save performance from Jake Smith, as well as the first professional goal and an assist by Tanner Andrew.
Neither team was able to find the twine in the opening 32 minutes of play. Wheeling finally broke the scoreless deadlock with 7:48 left in the second period.
Tanner Andrew cruised across the offensive zone and pounded a low shot on goal from the right circle. Keith Petruzzelli made the save, but the rebound kicked out to Jack Works, who deposited the loose change.
The Nailers added to their lead 4:40 later. Brayden Edwards carried the puck deep on the right side of the ice, then centered a pass to Connor Lockhart, who slammed a shot into the wide-open left side of the cage.
Wheeling put another marker on the board in the early stages of the third. Bogdans Hodass tossed a shot on net from the left point, which produced a rebound for Andrew to tuck in for his first professional goal.
Massimo Rizzo spoiled Smith’s shutout bid with 3:11 to go, as he slid in a wrist shot from the left circle, but the Nailers hung on and closed things out on the winning side, 3-1.
Smith turned in one of his best performances yet, as he made a season-high 37 saves on 38 shots to earn his fifth straight victory for Wheeling. Keith Petruzzelli turned away 28 of 31 shots in the loss for Reading.
With the win, the Nailers improve to 11-3-0 on the year.
Wheeling will play six home games over the course of the next two weeks. First up is the annual Thanksgiving Eve game on Wednesday night at 7:10 against Indy. There will be live IWC Wrestling in the main lobby, Turkey Bowling during intermission, and select $2 beers.
Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7:10 is Bluey Night, when fans will be able to meet Bluey and take photos throughout the game. Another exciting upcoming promotion is Wizards & Wands: Spells in the Snow on Saturday, Dec. 6.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source thehockeynews.com ’
