ROAD WARRIORS TOPPLE NAILERS 

VERSUS

The Greenville Road Warriors earned their first victory away from the BI-LO Center tonight with a 5-4 win over the Wheeling Nailers. The win improved the Road Warriors record to 10-5-1 on the season.

With Wheeling looking for a measure of revenge after Greenville swept a pair of games over the Nailers last week, the home team came out with some jump and grabbed a 1-0 lead. Casey Pierro-Zabotel wristed a long-range shot past the glove side of rookie goalie Brian Stewart. The goal came at the 5:08 mark of the first. Greenville, however, was quick to respond and went into the intermission with a 2-1 lead. In a 3-on-3 rush Wes Cunningham hit Wheeling goalie Patrick Kileen in the mask with a shot from 20 feet out. Brandon Wong jumped in the rebound and slapped it home at 9:30. Marc-Olivier Vallerand also assisted on the goal. Wheeling was guilty of putting too many men on the ice with just over a minute left in the first and the Road Warriors made them pay. Brendan Connolly threaded a perfect pass to Julien Brouillette who was streaking in from the point. Brouillette tapped it past Kileen with 12 seconds remaining in the frame.

The Road Warriors power play continued to operate in fine fashion during the second period and helped build up a three-goal advantage after 40 minutes of play. Before the power play did its damage, Justin Bowers laced a wrist shot past Kileen for his seventh goal of the season at 5:33 of the second. Trevor Glass and Jimmy Kilpatrick assisted on the play with Glass earning his first pro point. Ben Street pulled Wheeling back within one at 11:18 as he pushed a rebound past Stewart. Wheeling got into trouble, though, when Peter Merth and Kris Vernarsky were whistled for penalties 57 seconds apart. Kilpatrick picked up his second goal of the season by tipping in Brouillette’s point shot at 18:53. Vallerand capped off the period’s scoring with a 5-on-4 power play goal at 19:35.

Wheeling battled back with a pair of third period goals to climb back within one. Andrew Lord struck early by finishing off a 3-on-3 rush. He took a pass on the left wing from David Urquhart and drove across Stewarts crease to make the score 5-3. Greenville made things tough on itself when Glass took a kneeing minor with under two minutes to play. Wheeling pulled the goalie for a 6-on-4 skater advantage and Urquhart was able to sift a puck out of a pile past Stewart. Once the game returned to even strength Wheeling pulled Kileen again but the Road Warriors’ defense and Stewart held the fort.
Stewart had 24 saves in picking up his first ECHL win. The Road Warriors were 3-for-7 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are back on home ice Thursday, December 2 to take on the Gwinnett Gladiators at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. It will be another Dollar Drink Thursday with select fountain drinks and draught beers on sale for just $1! Great group seats remain available for your group of 10 or more. By booking your group you can save on the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability and much more. Call 864-674-PUCK for more information.