After an impressive regular season, the Wheeling Nailers were defeated in the Eastern Conference Final of the Kelly Cup Playoffs on Saturday.
After a hard-fought battle throughout the Kelly Cup Playoffs, the Wheeling Nailers' 2025-26 season has officially come to an end.
On Saturday, the Nailers - ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins - dropped Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Florida Everblades, 6-1. The loss eliminated them from the Kelly Cup Playoffs and sent the Everblades to the Final, where they'll meet the winner of the Western Conference Final between the Fort Wayne Komets and the Kansas City Mavericks.
After an outstanding performance during an overtime win in Game 4, Nailers' goaltender Taylor Gauthier was human in this one, stopping just 21 of the 27 shots he faced.
For the second consecutive contest, Florida got on the board less than a minute into the game, this time when Carson Gicewicz potted one to give the Everblades an early 1-0 lead. About five and a half minutes later, Nolan Renwick scored the only goal of the evening for Wheeling after a nice play by Matty De St. Phalle to keep the puck alive in the offensive zone.
And the game unraveled from there.
Within the first seven minutes of the second period, the Everblades scored three goals by Sam Stange, Oliver Chau and Anthony Romano to go up, 4-1. They would make it 6-1 in the final frame, courtesy of a second goal by Romano and then a later tally by Reid Duke to deliver the 6-1 final result.
Although it was a disappointing end to the season for the Nailers, it still doesn't discount the impressive season they put together, as their 46-20-3-3 record and 98 points were second in the Eastern Conference only to the Everblades, who are the No. 2 seed in the entire Kelly Cup Playoffs.
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