As the calendar flipped to 2026, the Norfolk Admirals flipped the script.
Chesapeake native Brandon Osmundson netted the night’s last two goals as coach Jeff Carr’s Admirals won their sixth consecutive game Saturday night, all in January, with a 6-3 victory over Wheeling.
The triumph came before 6,450, one of the biggest crowds of the season at Scope. It was the second contest of a seven-game homestand, and it marked a two-game sweep of a team that came to town atop the 30-team ECHL in points.
Norfolk (13-19-2-0), not long ago mired in last place in the league, has renewed hope of gaining one of the four Kelly Cup playoff berths in the eight-team North Division. Seeking their third consecutive playoff berth, the Admirals stand seventh in the division, nine points behind the fourth-place Maine Mariners, with 38 games to play.
Isaac Poulter made 21 saves for her second victory in as many nights. Wheeling’s Maxim Pavlenko took the defeat.
Bogdans Hodass gave the division-leading Nailers a 1-0 lead 3:53 into the game, but Chase Yoder countered with a power-play goal at 9:57.
The Admirals moved ahead 2-1 with the second period’s only goal, scored by Jack Jaunich 3:44 in. That set up a third period where offense was plentiful.
The Nailers’ Connor Lockhart forced a 2-2 tie with a goal just 37 seconds after the period started. Grant Hebert put the Admirals ahead 3-2 at 1:49, only to see Wheeling’s Randy Hernández score on the power play at 5:16 for a 3-3 standoff.
But Wheeling’s Brayden Edwards was whistled for high-sticking, and it only took the Admirals 15 seconds to capitalize on the power play. Brady Fleurent scored to put Norfolk ahead for good.
Osmundson made it 5-3 at 9:16 and 6-3 at 17:04, both times at even strength, to give him 11 goals for the season. Yoder got assists on Norfolk’s final three goals, earning No. 1 star honors, and Jack O’Leary assisted both of Osmundson’s.
The Admirals want to continue this momentum Friday through Sunday in a three-game, three-day series against the Worcester Railers.
