Yushiroh Hirano netted his first career hat trick as part of a five point game for the Japanese talent, who helped the Cyclones overcome the Wheeling Nailers by a 6-5 final at Heritage Bank Center Wednesday Night.
The Cyclones snap a four game winless skid and sit 10-9-0-0 on the season. Wheeling saw a six game point streak come to a close, as the Nailers fall to 10-7-1-0.
- Wheeling got the game's first goal on a net front drive by Matt Foley, who picked up his first goal of the season. Foley crashed the net toward Cyclones goaltender Cole Kehler after receiving a pass from Wheeling's Nick Hutchison to make it 1-0 over six minutes in.
- After falling behind, Dajon Mingo gave the 'Clones a spark with the veteran defenseman dropping the gloves against Cam Hausinger. Cincinnati responded 42 seconds later when Matthew Cairns collected a cross-ice pass to bury his first professional goal and tie the game.
- Cincinnati would take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission after getting their last two goals of the period in a span of 32 seconds. Lincoln Griffin picked up his first goal as a Cyclone when he drove a puck past Wheeling's Stefanos Lekkas. The goal would go under review as the net was dislodged, but was ruled in favor of the Cyclones. Moments later, Louie Caporusso shot a puck from the deep slot that double-deflected, hitting off Mason Mitchell's stick, before connecting with Hirano's for the two goal advantage.
- After outshooting Wheeling 15-9 in the first, the Nailers tipped the scale in the middle period, sporting a 19-5 shot differential and posting a three goal period to rally and take the lead. Adam Smith would get the Nailers within one just over five minutes into the period. Wheeling tied the game 14:06 into the second, when Brandon Saigeon shot a puck off the blocker of Kehler. The rebound was chased by Saigeon, who grabbed the puck with traffic in front of the goal to beat the Cyclones' net minder. Hutchison banged home his team leading-ninth goal of the season just over a minute later to give Wheeling the 4-3 lead.
- Momentum shifted back in favor of the Cyclones in the third, as the club fired 18 shots toward Lekkas. Caporusso found the equalizer on a tap-in goal to make it 4-4. Just 11 seconds later, former Cyclone Shaw Boomhower scooped a puck the other way and pushed past Kehler to give the advantage back to Wheeling.
- With less than half a period to play, Chris Ortiz was called for tripping. Less than 90 seconds later, Josh Maniscalco took a roughing penalty. Cyclones Head Coach Jason Payne called for a timeout, with his team down by one and awarded 36 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play.
- The timeout worked. 12 seconds after play resumed, Hirano scored from a top the left circle to tie the game. With the Cyclones remaining on the man advantage, Hirano again shelved a top-of-the-net laser for his first career hat trick, 10th goal of the season, thus completing a career-best five point game for the Tomakomai, Japan native.
- The Cyclones went 2-for-4 on the man advantage, with Hiring scoring each. On the other side of the puck, the team killed off both penalties faced in the game.
"It's rewarding to say the least," said forward Mason Mitchell when asked about special teams. "When you're doing it all week and you're practicing and doing meetings about special teams, it's nice to actually see it play out. We've been doing well and just weren't getting the bounces so it's nice to get them tonight."
Cincinnati hosts its final home game before Christmas, with the Indy Fuel visiting Heritage Bank Center Friday night for ELF Night.
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