Photo by Joe Lovell The Wheeling Nailers’ Louie Roehl corrals the puck during a home game on April 6. Roehl and the Nailers will pick up their first-round Kelly Cup playoff series against the Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday night.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers are sure hoping Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz was right when she said “There’s no place like home.”

The Nailers find themselves in a 2-0 hole in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference Northern Division series against No. 3 Norfolk in the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs. They fell into that hole with identical 4-0 setbacks inside the Scope Arena last week.

Game three is Wednesday night when the puck drops at 7:10 inside WesBanco Arena.

However, according to head coach Derek Army, there is no panic in his team.

“You always know going into a series that things aren’t always going to go your way. Championship teams, regardless of the score, always face adversity. We’re facing some adversity right now being down 2-0, but we’ve faced adversity all year long. I think it is something that my guys are prepared for and they will be ready for Game 3.”

Due to scheduling conflicts, the Scope Arena is not available for the Admirals to use this week, thus all of the five remaining games of the series, if necessary, will be played inside WesBanco Arena where the Nailers were a sparkling 24-10-2 during the regular season.

“We love being at home in front of our fans and sleeping in our own beds,” Army said. “There are a lot of factors that go into playing at home versus playing on the road, especially in the playoffs.”

Army didn’t think the 18-hour bus ride from Quebec to Norfolk last week didn’t have any effect on Game 1, but maybe a little in Game 2.

“I thought we did a really good job of recovering from the long trip in Game 1. I thought we had a good jump early and seemed to have our legs.”

Wheeling has been able to muster up 62 shots in the first two games, but Norfolk goaltender Thomas Milic has been up to the task with a ;pair of shutouts.

“He’s been phenomenal in net for them,” Army said of Milic. “I think he’s probably feeling really confident, but there have been a couple of bounces that haven’t gone our way, as well. That always plays into it, but on top of that, we need to put more of a volume of pucks on net and put him back into his crease to maybe not let him play as aggressive as he has been.”

Army said some reinforcements have made their way from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.

“We lost Logan Pietila and Jack Beck after Game 2, but we’ve gained Jack and Matty De St. Phalle back, so that should help out some,” Army noted. “Jack and Matty have driven our offense so having those guys back is great. It’s nice to get that offensive boost.”

De St. Phalle led the Nailers with 55 points (20g-35a) in the regular season. Beck had eight goals and 28 assists in just 36 games.

Wheeling goaltender Sergei Murashov has stopped 56 shots in the first two games.

The Admirals have been led by Brady Fleurent with a goal and four assists so far, while defenseman Darick Louis-Jean has a pair of net-finders. Grant Hebert (1g-3a) has four points.

Game 4 is set for Friday, with Games 5 set for Saturday. If games 6 and 7 are needed, they would be played Monday and Tuesday.

All games have 7:10 starts.