Wheeling’s Blair Yaworski (14) is chased by Trenton’s Tony Zancanaro. Photo by SCOTT MCCLOSKEY

WHEELING — Needing a victory in the worst way to not only break a long winless drought, but to keep playoff position also, Wheeling killed all eight Trenton power plays Saturday night, converted on of its own and even added a short-handed goal. Unfortunately for the Nailers, the defensive play in their own zone when at even-strength was less than up to par and was enough to do them in. The Devils never trailed and lit the lamp three times in the third period to put the finishing touches on a costly 6-3 victory against Wheeling in front of 3,383 disappointed fans at WesBanco Arena Saturday night. Making matters even worse for the Nailers (27-28-2-4 — 60) was the fact that the three teams above them and the two teams directly below them in the American Conference standings all recorded points Saturday night. Wheeling, with 60 points, watched Reading move to 62, Gwinnett climb to 60 and Trenton (25-25-4-5 — 59) advance to just one point behind them. The Nailers and Devils will do battle against this afternoon at 3:05 p.m. back at WesBanco. “There is a lot of urgency to these games now,” coach Greg Puhalski said. “Every game is a battle for playoff position and this was a big loss for us and puts us behind the eight ball a little bit. “And the fact that the teams around us have games in hand doesn’t help. Losing (Saturday) really makes (today’s) game very big.