Six games were on the ECHL [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/]slate Wednesday. Here’s a look at three standouts from the day’s action. JOSH WILKINS: SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS Wilkins had quite a night Wednesday, scoring four points including a hat trick in South Carolina’s [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/stingrays-forward-wins-weekly-honor]decisive 6-1 victory over the Orlando Solar Bears [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/solar-bears-gillies-earns-weekly-honor]at North Charleston Coliseum. With the score tied 1-1 in the opening frame, Wilkins got a deflection in front of Solar Bears netminder Jon Gillies, pushing the Stingrays ahead for good 2-1 with 4:51 remaining. After Lynden Breen pushed the lead to3-1 in the second period, Wilkins notched his second goal just 57 seconds later off his own rebound. Wilkins finished off his hat trick with 6:06 left in regulation to put the Stingrays ahead by five, 6-1. Stingrays netminder Ty Taylor followed up his 40-save performance on Sunday with another strong outing, stopping 20 shots on 21 attempts. KEITH PETRUZZELLI: READING ROYALS Not many teams have been able to stop the freight train that is the Wheeling Nailers [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/nailers-pavlenko-receives-weekly-award]this season. The club came into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Reading Royals [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/reading-royals-netminder-receives-echl-monthly-award]boasting a league-leading 18-3-1 record. Royals goaltender Keith Petruzzelli slowed down the train, at least on this night. He stopped 16 of the 18 shots he faced in a 3-2 Reading victory at Santander Arena. Connor Lockhart gave Wheeling the early advantage 11:06 into play for the lone goal of the opening frame. The Royals responded with two goals in the second period to flip the score, 2-1, entering the third courtesy of tallies from Kyle Haskins and Connor McMenamin. Nick Capone extended Reading’s lead with his second goal in two games, 3-1, at 12:29 into the third period. The goal would ultimately be the game-winner after Logan Pietila scored at 13:54 for the Nailers to cut their deficit to one, 3-2, but would stay as the final result. Carson Golder and Carter Berger each earned multi-point games with assists on two of the three Reading goals in the game, their team-leading sixth and second multi-point games of the season, respectively. With the win, the Royals improved to 11-9-2 overall and 5-5-0 at home, having a point in 13 of their 22 games overall. ISAK WALTHER: ATLANTA GLADIATORS Walther scored two goals and had one assist as Atlanta [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/players/after-making-music-atlanta-s-mike-mcnamee-is-singing-a-different-tune-on-the-ice]downed the Utah Grizzlies [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/dzhaniyev-s-hat-trick-propels-utah-grizzlies-in-win-over-icemen]6-3 at Mavrik Center in Salt Lake City. The win improved the Gladiators’ record to 15-5 on the season. Walther didn’t waste much time getting started, scoring his eighth goal of the season 59 seconds into the contest. Louis Boudon picked up the assist. After Atlanta built a 4-2 lead, Walther scored his second goal of the night and team leading ninth of the season unassisted 1:25 into the third, powering toward the net and slipping the puck past Grizzlies netminder Kyle Keyser to put Atlanta up 5-2. Utah cut into the lead, but Ryan Francis scored an empty net goal to ice the game and give the Gladiators the 6-3 victory.
