CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Wheeling Nailers scored a pair of first period goals 29 seconds apart and made them stand up in a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones on Thursday night at U.S. Bank Arena. It was the opening game of the best of seven series between the teams in the North Division semifinals. Game two of the series will be played in Cincinnati on Friday night.
Wheeling built a 2-0 first period lead on a pair of partial breakaways less than a minute apart. At 15:16 Aaron Clarke slipped behind the defense on the left wing side and converted a turnover into his first playoff goal. The tally ended a streak for the Nailers where they had surrendered the first goal of the game in eleven straight contests. At 15:45, just 29 seconds later, Billy Ryan snuck up the left wing side and took a pass from Bryan Ewing to make it 2-0.
Before the period ended, Matt Syroczynski took a major penalty for boarding that gave a five minute power play to Wheeling that wrapped around into the second period. In the opening term, the Cyclones outshot Wheeling, 11-8.
Cincinnati was able to kill of the entire Syroczynski penalty without yielding any additional scoring. The physical nature of the game continued when Cyclones rookie Jamie Coghlan was injured, and did not return to the game, on what appeared to be a boarding penalty that went undetected. The shots on goal again favored the Cyclones, 7-5.
In the third period, Felix Petit scored 14:44 in for the Cyclones from the right side of the net—slipping the puck past Curtis Darling—to cut the deficit to 2-1. Mark Santorelli and Frederic St. Denis had the helpers. But a power play goal less than a minute later by Miami (OH) product Mitch Ganzak re-established the two goal cushion. Ewing and Doug Krantz had the assists on the score. An unassisted empty net goal by Tommy Goebel at 18:19 closed the scoring. The shots again favored Cincinnati, 19-8.
For the game, the Cyclones outshot the Nailers, 37-21.
Wheeling got a 36 save performance from Curtis Darling, while Loic Lacasse absorbed the defeat with a 17 save effort. It was the first time in the coaching career of Chuck Weber that the club has dropped a game in the opening round of the Kelly Cup playoffs (7-1 career mark).
The series resumes Friday night when the Cyclones host the Nailers in the second game of the best-of-seven. The venue shifts to WesBanco Arena for game three on Saturday night. That will be a 7:30pm contest and will be carried locally on MAX-FM (97.7 and 99.5).
Tickets for the 2009-10 Cincinnati Cyclones season are now on sale. The Cyclones Sales Department can be reached at 513-421-PUCK, extension 3. For the latest news, notes and information on the team, visit: www.cycloneshockey.com . Ask about the Family Four Pack (four tickets, four hot dogs, four Pepsis, four Cyclones winter hats, four public skate passes at SportsPlus and a SportsPlus game card) for just $69!
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