Wheeling, WV – The Wheeling Nailers overcame a 3-1 deficit in the 3rd period and Joey Haddad backhanded home the game-winner in the final minute of overtime for a thrilling 4-3 win at Johnstown in perhaps the most exciting game of the season.
 
The Nailers have won back to back overtime games over the Johnstown Chiefs including the 4-3 win last Saturday night when Mitch Ganzak scored the winning goal at home.


Haddad was all alone against two defenders while the rest of his teammates were changing at the bench and he was able to fight his way through to get a little space to get of the backhander beating Shane Connelly of the Chiefs on the short-side past his blocker to trigger an eruptive celebration from the Nailers.
 
The Nailers improved to 4-7-1 with the win as they are enjoying their first winning streak of the season. Johnstown fell to 2-6-3 with the overtime loss but have taken 6 points out of a possible 8 in their last 4 games.
 
Wheeling came out charging in the 3rd and peppered Johnstown goalie Shane Connelly with an almost endless barrage of chances. Blair Yaworski finally got one of them back to close the deficit to 3-2 with 9:30 remaining. Chris Capraro burned past a Chiefs defenseman and got a good shot off that Connelly left right out in front for the trailer Yaworski to slam home.
 
The goal was Yaworski’s first as a Wheeling Nailer and comes against his former team. The Yale University product scored 18 goals for Johnstown last year, 11 of which came against Wheeling.
 
The Nailers were keeping the Chiefs pinned in their own zone for much of the 3rd but couldn’t come up with the equalizer until Casey Pierro-Zabotel’s shot from the left-wing got through Connelly and ever-so-slowly trickled through the blue and across the line as it laid up against the metal on the far post behind him. The Chiefs briefly protested saying that the puck had not fully crossed the line but referee Nick Suhy ruled it was a goal and Wheeling had tied the score at 3-3 with 1:59 remaining.
 
For Pierro-Zabotel it was an ideal time to score his pro hockey goal. The 3rd round choice of the Penguins in 2007 had been the leading scorer in juniors in the Western Hockey League last year with 115 points and lit the lamp for his first pro goal just days shy of his 21st birthday.
 
Johnstown had most of the momentum in a wild back-and-forth overtime but the Nailers players were scrambling and blocking shots while Adam Berhoel made a couple of big saves on the ones that got through.
 
Haddad was all alone up the left-wing while the rest of his teammates were changing when he registered the game-winner. Haddad is also on contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins having earned a spot as an undrafted player due to his performance in tryout camps and tournaments with other prospects. It was the 5th goal of the season for the Sydney, Nova Scotia native who like Pierro-Zabotel checks in at only 20 years old.
 
Thomas Beauregard had started the scoring for the Nailers at 1:20 into the first period with his team leading 8th goal of the season. That 1-0 lead lasted for only 9 seconds before Moises Gutierrez got it back for the Chiefs.
 
With the score tied at 1-1 in the 2nd the Chiefs took advantage of a brief Nailers letdown to score goals about a minute and a half apart midway through the 2nd from Troy Schwab and Russ Sinkewich to take a 3-1 lead.
 
Adam Berkhoel returned to the line-up from the injured-reserve to pick up the win and improve to 2-2-1.
 
Wheeling outshot the Chiefs 34-25 including 17-9 in the 3rd period and overtime combined. It was the 3rd straight game for the Nailers outshooting their opponents.
 
Wheeling is 3-1 in games decided past regulation including 2-0 in overtimes and 1-1 in shootouts.
 
 The Nailers are back at home Saturday night against the Chiefs at 7:35 to try to sweep all three games of their series with their oldest rivals. It’s Belmont County Night at WesBanco Arena with discount admission coupons available at various locations around Belmont County.
Nailers Notes:
Tom Harrison and Chris Davis were scratches for the Nailers.
T.J. Fox returned from the I.R. and played for the Nailers. Slavomir Tomko made his Wheeling debut after spending the first month of the season on the I.R. The Slovakia native played with Elmira last year and led that team in plus-minus rating. He played for the University of Vermont before that.
Coming up we’ll see the Nailers wear Blue and Gold West Virginia Mountaineer style jerseys on Wednesday, November 25 on West Virginia University Appreciation Night. And then the pink jerseys on Pink in the Rink to promote Breast Cancer Awareness on Saturday, November 28 and Sunday, November 29.
The Nailers Power Hour presented by Pepsi airs Thursday night at 6 p.m. live from Generations Pub and Restaurant in Wheeling with host Bob Rotruck talking with head coach Greg Puhalski and a player guest.

Take advantage of the Nailers new $87 package for 7 Nailers home games.
Call the Wheeling Nailers at (304) 234-GOAL, that's 234-4625. Or log on to
wheelingnailers.com  for more information.
 

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