Lukas Craggs and Brett Van Os scored, but timely scoring for the Nailers helped keep the Cyclones at bay in a 3-2 final that went the way of Wheeling Friday night.
Cincinnati opens December with a loss and fall to 9-7-0-0 on the season. The Nailers have won four straight and improve to 9-6-0-0 on the year.
- In a repeat from the teams' last meeting three weeks earlier, the Nailers opened the game with back-to-back goals in succession. After Josh Maniscalco fired the game's first goal, Nick Hutchison doubled the lead less than two minutes later with a shot in-between the dots to beat Mat Robson for the 2-0 advantage.
- The 'Clones were awarded their first of six power plays on the night in the first period. Craggs raced through center ice before receiving a pass from Louie Caporusso to slam home his third goal of the season to cut the deficit in half.
- In the second period, Hutchison was awarded a penalty shot 10:16 into the frame after being hooked by Matthew Cairns. Robson made the save to keep Cincinnati within one.
- 1:05 later, Brett Van Os redirected a shot by Johnny Coughlin to tie the game at two. Van Os has scored in three of his last five games. Coughlin picked up the assist in his 100th ECHL game.
- Over a minute after Van Os' game-tying goal, Cam Hausinger darted down the ice and fired a shot from the right circle that went over the glove of Robson to give the Nailers a lead once more. The Cyclones would outshoot Wheeling in the third period, 11-4, but Lekkas was able to make each stop, including a breakaway save on Craggs, who hit the crossbar earlier in the game in addition to his power play goal.
- Robson falls to 7-5 on the season, making 22 saves. Lekkas got his second win against the Cyclones this season with 27 saves. His previous win over Cincinnati came as a member of the Fort Wayne Comets in early November.
The Cyclones return home Saturday night to host the Indy Fuel for a 7:30 puck drop.
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