TOLEDO, OH – The Wheeling Nailers arrived in a familiar galaxy on Saturday, as they visited the Toledo Walleye for Star Wars Night at Huntington Center. Jarrett Burton had the force with him, as he scored twice for the Nailers, who also got markers from Troy Josephs and Hunter Fejes in a 4-2 road victory. Adam Morrison made 23 saves for his first win in a Wheeling uniform.
The Nailers got off to a tremendous start, outshooting Toledo, 15-6, while lighting the lamp twice. The first goal came off of a rush into the zone by Jaynen Rissling, who curled around in the left circle. He eventually dropped a pass off to Burton, who drilled in a one-timer from the face-off circle. Twelve seconds later, Wheeling added to its advantage. Riley Bourbonnais threaded a pass through the slot to Josephs, who tapped a shot into the wide open side of the cage.
The Walleye netted their first goal of the evening at the 2:58 mark of the second period. Erik Bradford forced a turnover on the left side of the ice, before making a quick exchange of passes with Kevin Gibson. Bradford ended up with the puck last, sliding in the marker. The Nailers temporarily regained their two-goal advantage less than four minutes later. Fejes stole the puck on the blueline, and made a feed to Cam Brown down the right wall. Brown returned the favor, and Fejes snapped home his team-leading 13th goal of the year. With 4:36 to go, Toledo trimmed the margin back down to one. Goaltender Matej Machovsky launched a pass to Kyle Bonis, who carried the puck in on a 2-on-1 rush, sifting in a shot from the left circle.
Early in the third period, Wheeling put the game away with a huge insurance goal. Cody Wydo setup Dan Milan, who came in with a long shot from the left side. Milan’s attempt was stopped, but Burton pounced on the rebound, backhanding in his second tally of the night. The Nailers closed out their 4-2 win by limiting the Walleye to just six shots on goal in the final frame.
Adam Morrison earned his first win with Wheeling, making 23 saves on 25 shots. Matej Machovsky was the losing netminder for Toledo, giving up four goals on 34 shots.
The Nailers will return home on Tuesday night to face the Indy Fuel at 7:05 p.m.
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