WHEELING – When the Wheeling Nailers acquired defensemen Matthew Maione in early December after he had requested the move to the Friendly City after starting the season in Brampton, then coach Clark Donatelli wanted someone to add some offense to the team’s defense corps. And do that he has … in a big way.

In the 48 games since, the 25-year-old has racked up 39 points (5 goals, 34 assists) and has sat at the top of the scoring race among ECHL defenseman for some time, currently holding a combined total of nine goals and 40 assists for 49 points in 65 games. That’s good enough for a seven-point cushion on his closest ECHL competition.

“I was really familiar with not only Donatelli but a lot of the players as well from training camp in Wilkes-Barre, which made that transition easy for me,” Maione said. “I’ve really enjoyed it here.

“It’s a credit to not only the coaching staff but also the guys in the locker room making me feel comfortable and allowing me to play my game.”

One area where he has been especially dominant is special teams, where Maione has compiled 21 of his points, including 20 assists on the man advantage which ranks third in the league.

“I’m playing with a group of very skilled guys and fortunate to be put in good situations like power plays and offensive-zone draws by Coach (David) Gove who has allowed me to play my game,” Maione added. “I just get the puck to those guys and they are making me look good, which in turn is helping the team.

“I’m very happy with the personal success and the team success.”

At the time he first came to the Nailers, Maione was joining a group with a strong leadership core. Since then call ups and injuries required guys to step up and fill some of those roles, and one that emerged was the 5-foot-11 left-handed shot from Toronto, Ontario, who now wears an ‘A’ on his sweater as an alternate captain.

“I’ve embraced the role,” Maione said. “I’ve been very lucky to have been in a leadership role in the past.

“I just try to soak up as much as I can from the coaches and be a positive guy. It’s not something that you wish for but something that you’re happy to embrace and help the team in any way you can.

“Our team, character-wise, is unbelievable. I’m very fortunate to have that as well.”

He and his teammates had a tough weekend on the road, dropping a pair of games in Kalamazoo on Friday and Saturday nights, which ended a season-best 11-game unbeaten streak and made the playoff chase just a little but tighter. Wheeling, which sits sixth entering the week and holds a five-point cushion on ninth-place Orlando, can clinch a berth regardless of what the rest of the field does in the closing weeks by securing nine standings points in its remaining five games.

“Obviously we didn’t get the results we wanted in Kalamazoo,” Maione said. “Seven games in 10 days is tough but we can’t make any excuses for our play.

“It is good to come back home, have a couple of good practices and reset and refocus, because it has been a long season with slopes and valleys.

”It’s not a thing where we say we just had a bad game. We want to nip it in the bud and make sure we take notice and get back to the things that made us successful” during the point streak.

The Nailers return home this weekend for a pair of contests – Friday against Reading and Saturday against Manchester – before concluding the weekend Sunday in Toledo.

“Our goal for the next five games is to win all five and get in the playoffs,” Maione said. ”But at the end of the day our end goal is to win a championship and I think we have the team to do it.”