Top Saturday Thrillers In The ECHL

Fans pay money to see exciting action, and Saturday had plenty of heart-stoppers to go around. Here’s a look at three matchups that went down to the wire Saturday night.

Nailers Score Late To Stun Bison

The Wheeling Nailers played their home opener Saturday against the Bloomington Bison, and treated the sellout crowd of 4,790 to an ending they’ll never forget.

Bloomington held a 1-0 lead with 30 seconds left in the third period, only to see the Nailers score two goals in the span of 30 seconds to spoil a possible Bison victory.

Atley Calvert picked a great time to score his first professional goal for the Nailers, tying the score with 27 seconds left after a mad scramble in the crease. Calvert sent a rebound through Bison goalie Hugo Ollas to knot the score 1-1. Kyle Jackson and Chris Ortiz picked up assists.

Just as it looked like the game was headed for overtime, David Jankowski won a faceoff in the right circle and got the puck to Matthew Quercia, who sent a low shot past Ollas for a 2-1 Nailers lead with 12 seconds left.

That was the dagger to the heart of the Bison, and the sellout crowd erupted into a frenzy. Jaxon Castor earned the victory in goal for Wheeling, stopping 24 of 25 shots. Ollas took the tough loss for Bloomington, stopping 27 of 29.

Komets Take Down Mavericks In Shootout

The Fort Wayne Komets swept their two-game series at Kansas City against the Mavericks, finishing things off with a 4-3 shootout victory on Saturday.

The Mavericks scored first at 15:52 of the first period on a Damien Giroux tally, with helpers from Charlie Wright and Nate Knoepke.

Anthony Petruzzelli tied things up 1-1 at 17:46, then put the Komets ahead 2-1 at 12:57 of the second period, assisted by Brannon McManus and Alex Aleardi.

It took until the 1:07 mark of the third period for Max Andreev to tie the game 2-2 with an assist from Landon McCallum. Fort Wayne regained the lead on Ethan Keppen’s goal at 8:55, but David Noel brought the Mavericks back with just 22 seconds left in regulation to tie the score 3-3.

Neither team scored in the overtime, and the Komets secured the victory in the shootout.

Toledo Stifles Cyclones In 5-4 Triumph

The Cincinnati Cyclones suffered two tough losses over the weekend, including a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Toledo Walleye on Saturday.

Six goals were scored between the two teams in the second period. The Fish scored just 46 seconds into the contest after Sam Craggs put a Brandon Hawkins rebound past Cincy goaltender Vyacheslav Peksa. With the assist, Hawkins scored his 250^th point in a Walleye uniform.

The Cyclones responded halfway into the first after Matt Boudens faked a defenseman to the ice before firing a shot past Toledo netminder Carter Gylander for his first goal of the season and a 1-1 tie.

Goals came fast and furious in the second period. Tyler Spezia scored 59 seconds into the frame for a 2-1 Walleye lead.

Less than a minute later, Colin Keenan increased Toledo’s lead to 3-1 with his first tally of the season. Kyle Bollers cut the margin to 3-2 for his first goal this season.

Ty Voit evened the game 3-3 off a nice pass from Tristan Ashbrook for his first of the season less than six minutes into the period.

Mitchell Lewandowski put Toledo back in front 4-3 after getting a rebound past Pavel Cajan, who relieved Peksa following the Walleye’s third goal.

Chas Sharpe closed out the period with his second of the season to bring the Cyclones back into a 4-4 tie.

Grant Gabriel scored the game-winner 6:51 into the third and secured the 5-4 victory and two-game sweep for the Walleye.