Wheeling Nails Clones 7-1

Wheeling’s Nick Petersen found the net for the eighth time in eight games against Cincinnati when he sent a shot past Chet Pickard (L, 18, 4-8-2-0) at the 4:54 mark, making it 1-0 Nailers.  However, just 32 seconds later, a Scott Reynolds shot from behind the net banked off of a Nailer defender and rolled behind goalie Peter Delmas (W, 29 saves, 2-0-0-0) to knot the score.  But after a turnover at the Cincinnati blue line, Wheeling forward Kelly Miller picked up the loose puck and wristed home the go-ahead goal at 15:47 to put his team up 2-1 after 20 minutes.

The Nailers padded their lead midway through the second frame when, at the 8:11 mark, Joey Haddad sent a backhanded shot over the shoulder of Pickard and into the net for a 3-1 lead.  With less than two minutes left in the frame, Alex Smigelski tipped home a David Urquhart blast to extend Wheeling’s lead to 4-1 at the second intermission.

In the third period, the Nailers began to pour it on; with just 0:51 gone in the final stanza,

Ben Street

tapped in a goal to make it 5-1.  Then, goals from Michael Bedard and Petersen at 4:22 and 12:29 respectively capped the scoring – sending the Wheeling to a 7-1 win.