The Elmira Jackals return to the ice tonight, hosting the Wheeling Nailers at First Arena in an Eastern Conference battle as the ECHL season winds down. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.
The standings in the ECHL’s Eastern Conference are very close, though the Jackals are nine points out of a playoff spot at this point. Orlando sits in the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division with 78 points.
Sitting in seventh place in Eastern Conference are the Greenville Road Warriors (35-28-1-3) with 74 points. They’re three points ahead of the eighth-place Kalamazoo Wings, who have 71 points.
The Elmira Jackals sit in ninth place with 69 points, so a win tonight would tie them (point-wise) for that eighth-place slot. But the Wheeling Nailers are also creeping very close behind, just one point shy of the Jackals and in 10th place (68 points).
If Wheeling wins tonight, they’ll bump the Elmira Jackals down one spot, at least for the time being. Ultimately, this won’t do much either way for playoff hopes for the Jackals, but it’s crucial for Wheeling. The Nailers hold the final playoff spot in the North Division, but have just a one-point lead on Cincinnati.
The Elmira Jackals head into tonight’s game on the heels of a three-game losing streak.
They fell twice to the Florida Everblades last weekend, dropping 5-3 and 3-1 decisions on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Puck Prose
Elmira, like their parent clubs Rochester in the AHL and Buffalo in the NHL, is working with a depleted lineup due to injuries and call-ups. Kevin Sundher, Allan McPherson and Colin Jacobs have all recently been reassigned to the AHL.
The Elmira Jackals have added several players recently — signing Jacob MacDonald, Matt Harlow and Trevor Gerling to Standard Player Contracts within the past few weeks.
Throughout all those roster moves, a few players have emerged as the leaders for the Elmira Jackals this season.
Forward Mike Seidel leads the team with 21 goals and 39 ponts this season, including six special teams goals.
Rookies Taylor Stefishen and Ryan Rashid each have 38 points on the season in 54 and 60 games each, respectively. Steven Shamanski, a rookie defenseman, has recorded 35 points in 54 games, including six power-play goals.
Finally, rookie Thomas Nesbitt has 29 points in 64 games this season (12-17).
For Wheeling, it’s rookie Derek Army and forward Riley Brace leading the way with 60 points each. Brace has a team-leading 42 assists, while Army leads the Nailers with 26 goals.
Forward Zack Torquato has recorded 56 points this season as the third-best Nailers scorer.
After that, it’s quite a dropoff, as David Gilbert has 37 points and rookie Jarrett Burton has 27 points on the season.
For Elmira, the games against the Nailers are their final games of the regular season, while Wheeling has a game in hand and faces Brampton to finish their season.
It could be a very close call for the Nailers until the very end of the season, and the Jackals, while realistically out of the postseason picture, can play spoilers — particularly when you take into consideration that the Nailers and Jackals face off two more times this season AFTER tonight’s game — with a home-and-home series at the tail end of the year.
The Jackals have just five games left after tonight’s matchup with Wheeling. They’ll hit the road to visit Fort Wayne, Toledo and Indy this weekend, then face that home-and-home with Wheeling on April 10 and 11 to finish out the regular season.
More from Sabre Noise
- 3 biggest standouts at Buffalo Sabres 2023 Prospects Challenge
- 3 takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres final Prospects Challenge game
- Buffalo Sabres experiment with lesser-known talent in loss to Pens
- Buffalo Sabres 75 Bold Predictions for 2023-24: Prediction 51
- Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh: A quick look at the Penguins prospects