ESTERO, FLA – The last time the Wheeling Nailers played in an ECHL playoff series in the state of Florida, the franchise had a different name and the opponent was known as the Tiger Sharks. Twenty-one years later, the Nailers began their quest for the Kelly Cup – and maybe a little payback for their ancestors.
Andrew Ammon and John McCarron each scored two goals while Cody Wydo had a four-point night as Wheeling grabbed a 6-3 victory over the Florida Everblades in front of an announced crowd of 2,583 at the Germain Arena. Friday’s win gave Wheeling a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern conference quarterfinal series with game two set for Saturday.
Wheeling parlayed a four-goal first period outburst into the franchise’s fifth straight opening round game one win dating back to the 2011 post-season. Goalie Franky Palazzese made 25 saves in net to earn his second career playoff victory.
Much has changed since the Wheeling Thunderbirds battled the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks in the 1996 Riley Cup playoffs. Even though the names – and in the case of Florida a different franchise – are a bit different, the intensity and dislike between the fourth-seeded Evervlades and the fifth-seeded Nailers brought back memories of the early days of the league that was named the East Coast Hockey League at the time.
Palazzese and the Wheeling expected a hard push from the host Everblades in the opening frame. What the Nailers did not expect was being down two men thanks to overlapping penalties to Ty Loney and Danny Fick. Thanks to the netminding of Palazzese and some nifty penalty killing, Wheeling survived Florida’s one minute five-on-three man advantage.
Spurred on by the defensive effort, Wheeling hit the Everblades with a taste of their own high-octane offensive medicine. The barrage started at the 9:23 mark when McCarron was in the right place to jam the rebound off a Wydo wraparound attempt on Florida goalie Anthony Peters home. Eighty-three seconds later, Ammon took a feed from Dan O’Donoghue and roofed a shot off the inside of the right post into the top corner to put the visitors up by two.
Exactly six minutes after Ammon’s tally, the Nailers took advantage of a Florida offensive zone miscue to extend the lead. Logan Roe fanned on a shot, giving Wheeling the chance to bust out on a three-on-one rush. Wydo, who had taken the puck from Roe, skated it into the Everblades end and buried a shot from the right circle over Peters’ glove hand.
Things only got worse for the Everblades when Matt Willows, the ECHL’s Rookie of the Year, was called for hooking. On the ensuing man advantage, Riley Brace got the puck back to Mathew Maione and the league’s Defenseman of the Year fired a shot thru traffic into the back of the net.
Faced with a four-goal deficit, Evetblades head coach Greg Poss pulled Peters in favor of Rasmus Tirronen to start the second period in hopes of jolting his team into action. The move appeared to work as a shot by Willows during a flurry was stopped by Palazzese. He kicked the rebound to the opposite side of the net, hoping that a teammate would grab it and move the puck out of danger. Unfortunately for Palazzese, the only player who was there was Florida’s Matt Marquardt and the veteran captain hit the open net to get the Everblades on the board at the 4:44 mark.
A rash of penalties led to some four-on-four and even three-on-three hockey into the middle of the frame when Wherling’s Paul Cianfrini was sent off for cross-checking. The Nailers did a great job of killing the penalty but just as Cianfrini stepped back into the ice, Willows set up Ryan Martindale for a laser shot that beat Palazzese over the shoulder to make it a 4-2 game.
With the momentum on the side of the home team, Wheeling needed an answer and got it with 1:13 left in the frame. Cianfrini got the puck back to Maione at the point and the defenseman let loose with a hard, low shot. Ammon went to the front of the net and redirected the puck past Tirronen (21 saves) for his second of the night to put his team back up by three heading for the third period.
Florida survived an early penalty to Justin Agosta early in the third but could not contain McCarron who buried his second of the game 5:26 into the final frame off a pass from Maione. Florida was able to chip the lead back to three when Gabriel Desjardins ripped a shot past Palazzese with a little over five minutes left in regulation but it was not enough to keep the Nailers from taking the game and the early lead in the series.
Wheeling’s penalty killing units were the stars of the game, holding the high-powered Everblades scoreless in seven opportunities. The Nailers connected once in six chances with the power play.
Florida, which has now lost three of four meetings between the two teams at home during the 2015-2016 regular season and now playoffs, will need to figure out how to handle the hard-charging Nailers. If they cannot, the Everblades will face an uphill battle when the series heads back to Wheeling on Wednesday.
Contact the author at Don.money@prohockeynews.com
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