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Reading Royals

Royals Fall 2-1 in OT (Again), Brampton Takes 3-2 Series

April 23, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Brampton, ON - The Reading Royals (OTL, 2-1-2) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Brampton Beast (Loss, 3-2-0), 2-1, in double-overtime Game Five of the Best-of-Seven North Division Semifinals at Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ontario. With the win, Brampton takes a three-games-to-two lead in first round series. Game Six is scheduled for Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Monday, April 24 @ 7:05 pm.

For the fourth time in the five games played in this series, the game ended with a 2-1 score, but this one took double-overtime and 95:34 of hockey to get there. Nobody scored until the mid-point of the third period, when Brampton bagged the game's first goal; but Reading tied it in relative short order-and from there the teams traded chances deep into the second overtime that included multiple power play chances for both teams (and 1:06 of five-on-three for Brampton in the second OT)-until Brandon MacLean ended things on a rebound chance from in tight with his second goal of the night.

The loss marked the second 2-1 OTL in this series for the Royals, who have now lost the last six playoff games that have gone beyond regulation for the organization, dating to an OT win in Game One of the 2013 Kelly Cup Finals against the Stockton Thunder.

Nobody broke through in the first two periods, which featured exceptional netminding by the two top goaltenders in ECHL playoffs-Mark Dekanich for Reading and Zach Fucale for Brampton. The Beast finally broke the ice 8:55 into the third, when a cross-ice pass from deep on the left side by David Ling found MacLean for a wide-open weak-side one-timer out of the right circle that slipped under and through Dekanich for MacLean's second of the playoff season.

1:57 after that, Reading tied things up when Chris McCarthy won an offensive zone face-off to the left point, where Jesper Pettersson settled and fired the puck into the pile in the low slot. The loose puck fell to the skates of Olivier Labelle, who turned a wheeled a low hard shot from just below the hashmarks for his second of the playoff season-and his sixteenth career post-season goal as a Royal, which ties Yannick Tifu for the all-time lead in that category.

The teams then ventured to overtime for the second time in the series. Both clubs had any number of chances to end it with multiple power play chances and a lengthy five-on-three for Brampton in the second OT. But the goaltenders were solid at both ends, and it seemed that both teams misfired at critical moments with the game on the line.

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