The Adirondack Thunder and Wheeling Nailers would meet for the first of five meetings and the first time since January 18th, 2019, which was a 6-2 win by the Thunder back in Glens Falls. Prior to the game, the Nailers would name defenseman Louie Roehl as their captain. Coming into Friday Night, both teams were looking for a win as the Thunder dropped their last two games and the Nailers dropped four out of five. Despite this being the first meeting between the two teams, it would take just five seconds for Darian Skeoch and Matthew Quercia to drop the gloves at center ice to get the series started. Both teams would have their chances in the first, but Colby Muise and Sergei Murashov would stand tall, keeping the game scoreless as the Nailers outshot the Thunder 13-11 in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second, the Thunder would get a golden opportunity to cash in on the PP as Mats Lindgren took a roughing penalty just 36 seconds into the middle frame, but the Nailers would find a way to kill it off and keep the game scoreless. Wheeling would use the momentum of the penalty kill as Cole Cameron fired a wrist shot that would beat Muise to give the Nailers a 1-0 lead. For the Johnstown Ontario native, it was his first goal since November 9th and his third of the season. In the third, the Nailers would pick up an insurance goal as Chrystopher Collin would run into Muise and then, shortly afterward, put home a rebound to make it a 2-0 lead for Wheeling with under 10 minutes left in the third. The Thunder would pull Muise with 2:48 for the extra attacker to avoid their third shutout of the season. Grant Loven would get his stick on a puck in front with 35 seconds left for his seventh of the season to put the Thunder within one. Kyle Jackson added an empty-netter just before time expired to cap off a 3-1 win for Wheeling.
The story of Friday Night’s game would be the goaltending as Sergei Murashavov would pick his 18th win of the season, stopping 25 of 26 shots in the win and has now stopped 67 of the last 68 shots he’s seen. On the other end of the ice, Colby Muise, who had been pulled in back-to-back games, had a bounce-back game, stopping 36 of the 38 shots he faced. For Muise, that’s the first time in the ECHL he’s made 35+ plus saves. The 26-year-old stopped 39 shots on December 28th as a member of the Peoria Rivermen of the SPHL. Adirondack and Wheeling will face off again tomorrow night in Wheeling, with puck drop scheduled for 7:10.
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