Wheeling,WV- Cam Hausinger netted his first career hat trick to help the Wheeling Nailers prevail over the Cyclones, 4-1, Saturday night at WesBanco Arena.
Cincinnati falls to 11-10-0-0 on the season and have lost four straight away games. The Nailers improved to 11-7-1-0 and have earned points in seven of their last eight games.
- After a scoreless first period, the Nailers managed to score the lone second period goal when Lukas Craggs was sent to the box for both a slashing minor and unsportsmanlike conduct. On their first power play, Hausinger elevated the puck past the glove of Cyclone goaltender Sean Bonar for the 1-0 lead at 7:34 of the second.
- The Cyclones earned a 5-on-3 power play at the tail end of the middle period after Matt Alfaro was called for tripping and Josh Maniscalco sent the puck out of play for a delay of game penalty shortly after. The 'Clones skated into the third period with the two man advantage. Yushiroh Hirano found a rebound in front from the right side of Nailers goaltender Louis Phillip Guindon to tie the game, 1-1 with his 12th goal of the season.
- Hausinger would get the Nailers back on top less than three minutes later, when the Wheeling forward was found parked off to the side of Bonar for a tap-in power play goal. 1:40 later, Hausinger would intercept a puck in-between the circles to fire his third of the night into the cage for a 3-1 lead.
- Head Coach Jason Payne pulled Bonar with roughly 90 seconds left in the game, but the Cyclones couldn't solve Guindon, and eventually Jared Cockrell slung home the empty net goal from his side of the ice to make it 4-1.
- Bonar made 31 saves in his second consecutive start for the Cyclones, while Guindon stopped 33 shots in his second start of the season.
- Cincinnati scored a power play goal for the fourth consecutive game on Hirano's tally. Hirano leads the Cyclones with 12 goals and 23 points.
The weekend concludes with a rematch against the Nailers Sunday at 4:10PM.
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