Photo by Joe Lovell
The Wheeling Nailers’ Tommy Budnick handles the puck during the Nailers’ home game Friday against the Reading Royals.
WHEELING — Sometimes, you have to tip your cap to a standout performance by a player on the opposing team. On Friday night at WesBanco Arena, that player was Reading Royals goaltender Yaniv Perets, who stood on his head by stopping 52 of 53 shots taken by the Wheeling Nailers, including all 25 in the third period. The Royals scored twice in the first period, then once each in the second and third, while Matthew Quercia potted the lone marker for Wheeling.
Reading scored twice in the opening stanza, and the goals came 1:32 apart from each other. The first strike came at the 9:50 mark. Nick Capone swiped the puck off of the left wing wall, then delivered a pass into the left circle for Cam Cook, who wired a wrist shot into the top-left corner of the cage. Connor McMenamin collected the second marker, as he scooped the rebound of Kyle Haskins’ shot off of the end boards and jammed a wraparound inside of the right post.
The Nailers tried to swing the momentum in the early stages of period two with a successful power play conversion. Brayden Edwards dished a pass across the slot for Quercia, who blasted in a one-timer from the right circle. However, the Royals regained their two-goal edge with 5:52 to go. Brandon Saigeon took a wrist shot from the right side with traffic, and the puck ended up going off of Patrick Moynihan before dropping in over the goal line.
Wheeling poured it on in the third period with 25 shots on goal to Reading’s seven, but Yaniv Perets stopped each and every one of them, and Carson Golder sealed the 4-1 win for the Royals with an empty netter.
Maxim Pavlenko made 23 saves on 26 shots in the loss for the Nailers.
The Nailers and Royals will travel back to Reading, where they will clash for the fourth time in a row on Saturday night at 7. Wheeling has six home games on the schedule 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, Turkey Bowling, and select $2 beers. Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7:10 p.m. 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.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.timesleaderonline.com ’
