WHEELING, WV- After playing nine of their previous 13 games in February away from the BI-LO Center, the Greenville Road Warriors wrap up the month’s schedule with a visit to the Wheeling Nailers tonight. It is the last of six games between the clubs this season.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
2/26/11 – GRW 3 – TOL 0
The Road Warriors used 24 saves from Nic Riopel to post their fifth shutout as a team (second for Riopel) and earn the win over Toledo on Saturday night. The offense was provided by Greenville’s Jimmy Kilpatrick, Marc-Olivier Vallerand, and Andrew Rowe. Kilpatrick’s fifth even-strength goal of the season, 12th overall, gave the Road Warriors a 1-0 lead at 8:55 of the first period. The goal was set up by an offensive zone faceoff win and Kilpatrick slammed home a rebound off of a Chris Clackson shot. The assist gave Clackson a point in five straight games (2G, 3A). Vallerand followed with the lone power play score of the night with 1:45 remaining in the first. After taking a pass from Sam Klassen at center Vallerand spun around a Toledo defender, broke in alone on Thomas McCollum, and whipped a wrist shot past the Toledo goalie. It was Vallerand’s team-leading 21st of the season. Andrew Rowe capped the scoring at 11:44 of the third with a coast-to-coast unassisted goal. It was his first as a Road Warrior in just his second game with the team. The win for Riopel was his 16th of the season.
2/25/11 – WHL 1 – ELM 3
Despite striking first against the Jackals, Wheeling was unable to put the breaks on its losing streak and dropped its eighth consecutive game. The loss also removed the Nailers from the top spot in the North Division standings. Kelly Miller allowed Wheeling to grab the 1-0 advantage 5:42 into the game with his eighth goal of the campaign with assists from Andrew Orpik and Peter Merth. Miller was added mid-season when Wheeling began to be beset by call-ups to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL and has 11 points (8G, 3A) in 20 games for the Nailers. His score on Friday wasn’t enough, though, as Elmira answered with three unanswered goals to claim the win. At 10:39 of the first Justin Donati tied the game at one and the eventual game winner came from Josh Brittain with 37 seconds remaining in the second period. Michael Dubuc slid home an empty netter with less than a minute left in the third to seal the win. Peter Delmas took the loss with 24 saves for the Nailers.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
The Road Warriors come into tonight’s game looking to extend Wheeling’s recent struggles with a win in the season series finale between the clubs. The Nailers are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak and have dropped to second in the North Division. Greenville is five-for-five against Wheeling so far following a 5-1 win at the BI-LO Center on January 2. In Greenville’s last visit to WesBanco Arena on November 28 the Road Warriors posted a 2-0 win that wrapped up a four-game northern road trip.
The last five Road Warriors games have been a virtual special teams shutdown. On the positive end, Greenville has been lights out on the penalty kill as evidenced by its 21-for-24 (87.5%) success rate. Twice in their last five they have been perfect on the PK and the other three games have allowed just one power play goal to their opponent. Greenville is an impressive 21-11-2 when holding an opponent to one power play goal or fewer. On the other end of the spectrum, last night’s power play goal by Marc-Olivier Vallerand was Greenville’s first, and only, PPG in its last five games. The Road Warriors are 1-for-19 (5.2%) over that span but still have a 3-1-1 mark in those games. In the season series against Wheeling the Road Warriors are 7-for-32 (21.8%) on the power play and 19-for-21 (90.4%) on the penalty kill.
The Road Warriors have been living their nickname during the month of February with 11 of their 15 games away from the BI-LO Center. Not including tonight, seven of their last 11 have been on the road and Greenville holds a 3-3-1 mark in those games. Two of the three wins have come past regulation and the regulation win was last night at Toledo.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors will return home to the BI-LO Center to battle the Trenton Devils on Friday, March 4 at 7:05 p.m. In conjunction with SHINE 96.7, the Road Warriors will be presenting “Church Night 2011” with a live, post-game performance from recording artists MyCalvary. Tickets for church groups start as low as $7. The SPINX Friday Family Four-Pack is also available for that game through the BI-LO Center Box Office and gets you four tickets, four hot dogs, four pretzels, four bags of chips, four fountain drinks for $48! For more information on these promotions and more contact a Road Warriors sales representative at 864-674-PUCK.
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