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ECHL Reading Royals

Barratt Nets OT Winner Against Growlers for Second Hat-Trick of Pro Career

March 11, 2023 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


St.John's, NL - The Reading Royals (33-20-3-0), proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, defeated the Newfoundland Growlers (38-17-2-0) in overtime, 5-4, on Saturday, March 11 at the Mary Brown's Centre. Evan Barratt scored the game-winning goal in overtime to earn his second hat-trick of his professional career. Pat Nagle (13-5-0) earned the win in net with 30 saves on 34 shots faced. Luke Cavallin (20-8-1) suffered the overtime loss in net for Newfoundland with 34 saves on 39 shots faced.

One goal was scored through the opening two periods of play much due in part to a resounding goaltending effort from Nagle in net for Reading and Cavallin in goal for Newfoundland. The goaltenders combined for 48 saves before Barratt broke the scoreless tie with 4:35 remaining in the second period. Barratt rushed into Newfoundland's zone on a breakaway and snapped a wrist shot under Cavallin's left arm to notch the game's opening goal.

Barratt extended Reading's lead 1:16 into the second period with a wrist shot sniped across Cavallin's body to beat the netminder for the second time in the game. Jacob Gaucher earned the lone helper on Barratt's second goal of the game for his 24th assist of the season. Max Newton tacked on to Reading's lead with the Royals' lone power play goal of the game on five power play chances. Set up at the right post, Newton redirected a pass from Garrett McFadden over Cavallin's left pad to put Reading up 2:28 into the third period, 3-0.

Newfoundland got on the board with their first goal of the game 6:06 into the third period. Todd Skirving laced a one-timer over Nagle's right shoulder and followed up with his second goal of the game six minutes later. After Shane Sellar scored his 16th goal of the season and third goal in his last three games, Skirving batted in a rebound off of Nagle's right pad to score Newfoundland's lone power play goal of the game on one of their four man-advantage opportunities.

Brett Budgell brought the Saturday night contest to a one-goal game on a dangle through Reading's defense and a shot snapped past Nagle's glove. The rookie forward's 11th goal of the season set up Zach O'Brien's equalizer goal with 1:25 left in regulation to even the score, 4-4, and force overtime.

1:09 into the extra frame, Alec Butcher led a rush up the right wing side and snapped a wrist shot on Cavallin with Barratt crashing in on Newfoundland's net. The puck ricocheted off of the netminder's right pad and kicked out to Barratt who was set up at the left post to score his third goal of the contest and win the second game of the three-game series for Reading.

With three goals in the game, Barratt became the third Royal in team history to score an overtime goal for a hat-trick. The Bristol, Pennsylvania native joins Mikhail Stefanovich (11/24/10) & Mikael Bedard (3/17/12) on the all-time list in franchise history to net an overtime goal for a hat-trick.

The Royals registered 37 shots on goal in regulation and two in overtime to the Growlers' 34 shots on goal in regulation and zero in the final stanza. Reading earned their third win over the Growlers this season to improve their season series record to 3-3-1 against Newfoundland (18-13-8 record all-time). The overtime victory was Reading's fourth of the season (4-3) and the franchise's first in the Mary Brown's Centre all-time (1-0-3).The Royals are 24-2-2 when leading after two periods and improved to a 28-14-3 record against divisional opponents (.656%).

The Royals close their three-game series in Newfoundland with the Growlers on Sunday, March 12. The Royals return home on Friday, March 17 to open a three-game weekend series with the Atlanta Gladiators. The 7:00 p.m. home game features the Go Green Night promotional game.

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