ESTERO, FL – Peter Delmas made 18 saves to record his third shutout of the season, and the Wheeling Nailers defeat the Florida Everblades 5-0 at Germain Arena Saturday night. Wheeling takes five of a possible six points from the three-game Florida road trip, inching them closer to a spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Kyle Bushee who forced overtime last night with a goal in the final minute of regulation, started off the scoring on Saturday. On the first power play of the game, Bushee found himself wide open with the puck at the circle and fired a wrist shot past goaltender Troy Passingham to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. The Nailers literally bounced their way to a 2-0 lead. Doug Rogers grabbed the puck on the wall and skipped the puck off the ice toward Mikael Bedard. Bedard off the bounce swatted at the puck and redirected the puck past Passingham for the second Nailers goal.
The Nailers added to their lead at 2:56 of the second, as Joey Haddad picked up a rebound off a Zach Hansen shot, and flipped the puck past Passingham for the goal to make it 3-0 Wheeling. The goal was Haddad’s 20th of the season.
Moments later, Wheeling continued its assault, just as a power play came to an end, Chris Kushneriuk broke into the zone, swung in front at the top of the crease and clipped a shot off the body of Passingham and into the net. Kushneriuk’s goal was his fourth in the last five games. The goal signaled the end of the night for Passingham who allowed four goals 18 shots. Mike Zacharias manned the net for the Blades the rest of the way. Wheeling took the 4-0 lead into the second intermission.
The Nailers added pad to their lead in the third, converting on the power play for the second time in the contest. Tyler Murovich received the puck in the slot and ripped a shot past Zacharias to extend the lead to 5-0. Wheeling outshot Florida 20-6 in penalty filled third period, while out dueling the Everblades in shots 39-18 for the game. Peter Delmas stopped all 18 shots of enemy rubber, to secure his third shutout of the season.
The Nailers travel to Reading to take on the Royals on Wednesday beginning at 7:00 p.m
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