Published: February 09, 2010 09:53 pm      

Chiefs slip past Nailers on road

WHEELING, W.Va. — Neil Smith believes his Johnstown Chiefs are learning how to win again.

The Chiefs beat the Wheeling Nailers 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday morning at WesBanco Arena. Johnstown won its second consecutive game overall and third straight on the road.

Overall, the Chiefs have three victories in their past four games.

“You get used to losing and you seem to get mentally ready to lose. If you get used to winning you get mentally used to winning the game,” said Smith, the Chiefs interim head coach and owner. “The first thing I said after the game was, ‘We’re going to get used to this.’ At the same time you can send yourself in the other direction if you don’t play well at Kalamazoo (on Friday) and Cincinnati (on Saturday).”

Connor Shields had two goals. Johnstown goaltender Kris Mayotte made 37 saves and stopped Wheeling’s final three shootout attempts for his second straight shootout victory since returning from a groin injury.

“Mayotte played very well and held us in. We were outshot pretty badly in the first two periods and Mayotte did well,” Smith said. “All in all, it was a really good effort.”

The line of Shields, Chanse Fitzpatrick and newcomer Matthew Kang was on the ice for all three regulation goals.

Shields and Fitzpatrick each converted in the shootout, with Fitzpatrick netting the game-winner in the fifth round. The Chiefs acquired Kang from Las Vegas on Monday and he joined the team in Wheeling.

“Shields and Fitzpatrick have played together since I’ve been here, and they know each other real well,” Smith said. “The one thing Matthew Kang can do is he’s got good skills with the puck. He’s got speed. He’s got pretty good hands and puck skills. That adds a real uptempo.”

Forward Jim McKenzie returned from a lengthy stay on the injury list and joined the line of center Troy Schwab and left wing Bryan Marshall. The third line had Sean Berkstresser and Dan Gendur on the wings, with Brian Kaufman at center.

At other times Berkstresser moved to the middle with Jeff Martens on one of the wings.

“I thought our lines were stronger,” Smith said. “McKenzie came back. Kang played in his first game and seemed to fit in real well with Shields and Fitzpatrick. Those guys got three goals. Marshall was on the wing, with Schwab in the middle and McKenzie on the right. That seemed to work out well. The third line had Berkstresser on one side, Gendur on the left side and either Kaufman or Berk in the middle and Martens on the left. We rolled everybody in the game. I thought all three lines were good.”

The game was played at

11 a.m. as part of a school-day promotion, but the impending bad weather forced many school cancellations and limited the crowd. Reportedly a sponsor purchased 1,500 tickets and donated those to schools and an advance sell of 3,600 tickets had the Nailers expecting a large turnout. The announced attendance was 3,651 but that included numerous no-shows.

“There was a lot of energy in our lineup,” Smith said. “That was good considering we drove into Wheeling Monday night and had to play at 11 in the morning. It disrupts the schedule. We got up early. We had breakfast early and walked to the rink. I told the players we just wanted to win a hockey game and get out of there. It was a game for kids but nobody could go because the schools were closed. We don’t care when we play on the road.”

The Chiefs led 2-0 on goals by Jonathan Ralph 1:35 into the game and Shields at 9:42 of the first. Fitzpatrick and Kang assisted on both goals.

Wheeling’s Thomas Beauregard made it 2-1 with a power-play goal 3:08 into the second, but Shields re-established the two-goal margin at 15:39. Once again, Fitzpatrick and Kang assisted.

The Nailers’ Cleve Kinley converted a power play 8:32 into the third, and Joey Haddad tied it at 16:02.

Haddad and Mitch Ganzak scored on Wheeling’s first two shootout attempts, but Mayotte turned aside the next three shots, setting up Fitzpatrick’s winner in the bottom of the fifth round.

“Mayotte looks like a different goalie than when I first got here,” Smith said. “When he played against Cincinnati (a 5-3 home loss on Jan. 5) when I first got here, we found a way to lose late. I didn’t think Kris was playing well. He seems like the goalie he was last year. He has confidence. He’s cool. He’s won shootouts.

“He let the first two in during the shootout. He could have folded the tents. He could have become unfocused. He came back strong and we came on strong.”