PORTLAND, ME – May 11, 2026 – The Maine Mariners, proud affiliates of the NHL's Boston Bruins and AHL's Providence Bruins, defeated the Wheeling Nailers 6-3 on Monday night at the Cross Insurance Arena in Game 3 of the North Division Finals, behind Ben Allison's three-point playoff debut. The Mariners now trail the best-of-seven series, two games to one.
The Mariners came out firing and built a 3-0 lead in the first 13 minutes of the game. Robert Cronin began the festivities with a power play tally at 6:58, finishing a cross-ice pass from Allison and beating Taylor Gauthier short side. At 9:40 of the period, defenseman Zach Massicotte doubled the Maine lead when his shot from the blue line changed directions off a Nailers shot block attempt and fooled Gauthier. The scoring was capped at 12:55 when Allison came out of the penalty box and was sprung on a breakaway by Max Andreev, slipping a backhander underneath Gauthier to make it a three-goal lead.
The lead was extended to 4-0 at 4:39 of the second period when Brooklyn Kalmikov's wrister from the right circle found twine - another power play goal. Antonio Venuto added Maine's fifth goal at 9:54 when he slammed in Allison's back door pass at the back post. The Nailers swapped goaltenders following Venuto's goal as Gabriel D'Aigle finished the game in the Wheeling net. Wheeling finally broke through on Luke Cavallin at 15:13 of the second, on a wrister from Logan Pietila. Maine led 5-1 after two.
A 5-on-3 goal from Andreev at 7:05 of the third stretched the lead to 6-1. Wheeling netted two late goals - a shorthanded tally from Zach Urdahl (13:03) and a 5-on-3 marker from Blake Bennett (16:31), to bring the game to its 6-3 final. Cavallin stopped 35/38 to earn his third win of the postseason. Gauthier stopped 13/18 while D'Aigle made 11 saves on 12 shots in relief.
The Mariners will look to even up the series with Game 4 on Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Arena at 7 PM. Game 5 is now confirmed for Wednesday in Portland, also at 7. All tickets for both games are $15 (not including fees) and are available at MarinersofMaine.com/playoffs. If the series goes to Game 6, it will be back in Wheeling on Saturday, May 16th while Game 7 would be Monday, May 18th, also in Wheeling.
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