Article Photos

Advertisement

WHEELING - Real men really do wear pink.

Sporting pink jerseys in support of breast cancer awareness, the Wheeling Nailers got physical, took advantage of opportunities and got a victory on the home ice Saturday night.

Forwards Jordan Fox and Kevin Schmidt each scored a pair of goals and Wheeling recorded three power-play goals in a span of 1:50 of the second period as the Nailers erased an early 2-0 deficit to defeat Cincinnati by a 5-2 count in front of a large ''Pink in the Rink'' night at WesBanco Arena.

The victory comes on the heels of a big road victory at then East Division-leading Elmira on Friday night. Coach Greg Puhalski's squad also recorded just the second home victory of the season and first in four tries against the Cyclones.

Wheeling (7-9-1-1 - 16) will be back in action tonight at 6:35 p.m., once again versus Cincinnati (9-8-0-1 - 19). The Nailers will be looking to put the finishing touches on a six-point weekend, and could possibly climb out of the North Division cellar.

''It was nice that we were able to carry over a good effort Friday at Elmira,'' Puhalski said. ''I felt like we played very well, even when we got down two goals early we just kept going.

''Now we have a real big chance (today) to string together three wins in three days. That is something that we really need to take full advantage of.''

While the Nailers really did get some breaks Saturday, they didn't come early as a goal just more than 6 minutes into the contest was erased due to incidental contact with the goalie.

Cincinnati then went on a quick spurt of its own with a pair of very similar goals. Brett Robinson tapped in a rebounded shot 7:51 into play on assists from Dustin Sproat and Matt Pierce to make it 1-0.

Just 20 seconds later, this time on a power-play, Robinson recorded a second rebound goal, again from Sproat and Pierce to give the visitors a 2-0 lead they took into the second period.

That lead stood until midway through the period when the Cyclones got a little chippy and paid the price with three big penalties in just more than 2 minutes of play.

The big one would be a 4-minute, double-minor for high-sticking on Scott Reynolds that helped lead to a three-goal Wheeling rally.

Fox's fist goal came 10:19 into the period on a flip-in from Chris Caparo and Ryan Hiller on a two-man advantage to make it 2-1. Exactly a minute later, Slavomir Tomko's 30-foot blast went past goalie Robert Mayer to knot the count at 2-2.

But the hosts were not done, only 50 seconds later, and still on the power play, Schmidt, near the same spot Tomko had just scored, sent another laser past Mayer to give Wheeling the lead for good at 3-2.

Things got a little odd before the end of the period as a broken glass with 2:29 showing on the second-period clock sent the teams to their dressing rooms early.

When the teams returned to the ice to finish the second period, before going directly to the third, Schmidt scored on a goal 25 seconds later with Aaron Clarke and Mitch Ganzak credited with assists to make it 4-2 after two.

Schmidt's second goal actually looked like it had been stopped by Mayer, however, he could not gain control of the puck which made its way under him and across the line.

The Nailers had an empty-netter from Fox to close things out with just 19 seconds remaining in the contest.

''The power play really got us going in the second period,'' Puhalski said. ''And it was even nicer to get two goals by defensemen in that stretch.

''I think the big goal was the fourth one from Schmidt that was all hustle on his part. It was nice to see the power-play be such a big thing for us.

''We made some mistakes early and got caught out of position on that first power-play goal, but we did such a good job on penalty kill Friday night and we followed it up with a good showing (Saturday).

''The goal that was taken away from us early was a tough break, but we were able to take advantage of a couple 5-on-3 situations and made it count. I also can't say enough about Jordan's (Fox) night, he really needed that out there.''

Game Notes

The victory was the first for the Nailers at WesBanco Arena since a 4-3 victory against Johnstown on Nov. 7. ... Cincinnati, which had won 3 of 4 heading into last night, had just moved into second place following a 6-5 victory against Kalamazoo on Friday night. ... Schmidt was the No. 1 star of the game while the Cyclones' Robinson was No. 2 and Fox was No. 3. ... The victory also broke a personal two-game losing streak for goalie Jordan Parise, who did an outstanding job in net. Adam Berkhoel was in net for the victory at Elmira on Friday.