photo by: Joe Lovell

The Wheeling Nailers’ Shane Bull fires a shot during the Nailers’ home game against Worcester on Saturday.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers completed an extremely busy stretch on Sunday afternoon, as they not only played their fourth game in five days during the week, but their tenth game in 17 days since the holidays.

Wheeling finished that group of games with a 7-2-1 record, but came up on the short end of a 2-1 score at WesBanco Arena against the Worcester Railers.

Logan Pietila was the only Nailer to solve Michael Bullion, while Justin Gill had a goal and an assist for Worcester.

After the first period, the Nailers trailed by one goal. That marker came at the 10:18 mark.

Justin Gill carried the puck in on the left side of the offensive zone, faked a shot, then curled around the net, and stuffed a wraparound inside of the right post.

Worcester added to its lead 1:22 into the middle frame, off of an offensive zone face-off. Gill dished the puck to the right side of the crease, where Anthony Callin had himself a tap-in.

Wheeling got some life in the early stages of the third period, as the deficit was cut to one. Gabe Klassen whipped a low shot on goal from the left side, which produced a rebound for Logan Pietila to slam home.

The Nailers emptied the tank with an 11-3 shots advantage in the final stanza, but were unable to find a tying goal, as the Railers prevailed, 2-1.

Michael Bullion earned the win for Worcester, as he denied 33 of the 34 shots he faced. Taylor Gauthier suffered the defeat for Wheeling, despite making 27 saves on 29 shots.

The Nailers and Railers will play two more games against each other next weekend in Worcester on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday at 3:05 p.m.. Wheeling will return home the following weekend for a three-game series against the Kansas City Mavericks Jan. 24-26.

NAILERS 4, RAILERS 3, SHOOTOUT (SATURDAY)

WHEELING — The Nailers faced quite the challenge on Saturday night at WesBanco Arena, and showed all sorts of heart to come away with their 25th victory of the season.

The Nailers erased three separate deficits during regulation, then did it one more time in the shootout, before Jack Beck delivered the deciding strike in front of 4,051 fans. The final score ended up 4-3 in Wheeling’s favor.

Sergei Murashov earned the win for the Nailers, as he made 29 saves on 32 shots during the game, then thwarted two of three shootout shots. Hugo Ollas received the shootout loss for the Railers, as he came away with 31 stops on 34 shots during the game, then gave up two goals on three shootout shots.