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ECHL Reading Royals

Butcher Scores Twice as Royals Throttle Thunder in Series Opener, 5-1

January 13, 2023 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals, proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, defeated the Adirondack Thunder, 5-1, on Friday, January 13th at Santander Arena.The Royals improved to 21-10-1 and won their seventh consecutive contest over the Thunder dating back to April, 2022. Pat Nagle earned his fourth consecutive win with the Royals with 24 saves on 25 shots faced (8-3-0). Jake Theut suffered the loss in net for Adirondack with 17 saves on 22 shots faced (7-9-2-1).

Reading turned a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead at the end of the first period. Thunder defenseman Ryan Da Silva scored the game's opening goal 3:52 into regulation on Adirodnack's first shot of the game. Da Silva snapped a wrist shot on net from the blue line and picked the corner over Nagle's right shoulder to earn the defenseman his third goal of the season.

After both teams traded back an even amount of shots and hits through the middle of the period, Reading scored two goals in the final five minutes to take control of the game from there on out. Charlie Gerard evened the score on Reading's first of two power plays in the game with 4:53 remaining in the period. Tyler Kirkup followed up with a redirection goal on Ivan Mongo's wrist shot with 53 seconds remaining in the period to give Reading a one-goal lead after the first period, 2-1.

Alec Butcher began a milestone night in his Royals career in the second period with his first of two goals in the game. A wrist shot from Will MacKinnon ricocheted off of Theut's right shoulder and flailed into the air for Butcher to take a swing at with his stick kept under the crossbar. Butcher connected with the puck and batted into the back of Adirodnack's net for his fifth goal of the season.

Two goals in the third period put the game in the Royals favor for good. McFadden scored his second goal of the season on a breakout rush which transpired from McFadden's departure from the penalty box into a rush with Shane Sellar up ice. Sellar crossed the puck across Theut's crease for McFadden to deflect the feed over the goaltender's left pad for the captain's fourth multi-point game of the season (1 G, 1 A). The primary assist improved Sellar's point streak to four games (3 G, 2 A) and tallied his second point in the contest for his fifth multi-point game of the season.

Butcher earned his first multi-goal game of the season with a one-time blast past Theut with 8:08 remaining in regulation. Jacob Gaucher forced a turnover by the Thunder on their own end of the ice and delivered a centering pass for Butcher skating in the slot. Butcher drove the puck into the back of Adirondck's net as he drug his right knee across the ice and pointed to Gaucher in a sign of appreciation for the rookie forward's hustle which translated into his seventh mutli-goal game of his professional career.

Reading's offense scored five unanswered goals while Nagle and the penalty kill unit killed off all four penalties charged to the Royals. With Gerard's third power play goal of the season, the Royals have scored a power play goal in each of their last four games when they've had a power play opportunity.

The Royals improved to 4-0 in the season series against Adirondack (42-25-7 all-time) and are 12-2-1 when leading after the first period. Additionally, Reading bolsters a win percentage of .762% against North Division foes, good for the best win percentage among North Division teams against divisional opponents (REA vs. North Div.: 16-4-1).

The Royals continue their four-game homestand on Saturday, January 14th against the Adirondack Thunder at 4:00 p.m. at Santander Arena for the Flintstones Night promotional game. The Royals conclude the homestand with MLK Day (1/16) and Craft Beer / Puck and Putts Night (1/20) promotional games.

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