Devils Can't Crack Royals in 4-3
February 6, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release
Trenton, NJ - Devin Timberlake scored twice in the first period to lead the Reading Royals to a 4-3 win over the Trenton Devils in the rubber game of the three-day weekend series between the teams. Trevor Kell, Ryan Hayes and Ryan Ginand scored for the Devils but two quick strikes by Reading's Jared Ross and Todd Perry early in the second period proved to be the difference in Sunday's matinée matchup at Sun National Bank Center.
Timberlake opened the game's scoring 6:27 into the game by beating Jeff Lerg on a rebound for his sixth goal of the season. Lerg stopped the first two shots fired his way but was unable to corral the rebound before Timberlake was able to flip the puck past him. Five minutes later, Timberlake struck again, again finding a loose puck near the crease and poking it into an open net with Lerg trying to recover from the initial shot from Andrew Sarauer.
Trevor Kell got the Devils on the board with six minutes left in the opening period by beating Ben Scrivens with a hard wrist shot from the right circle for his tenth goal of the season. Ryan Ginand picked up the first of his two assists of the game by laying a perfect drop pass for the streaking Kell to skate in to. Jeremy Akeson picked up the second assist on the goal by starting the play in the neutral zone, but Reading carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Starting the second period on a power play courtesy of a Taylor Vichorek roughing penalty, the Royals added to their lead as Jared Ross blistered a one-timer from the blue-line past Lerg just 27 seconds into the frame. Fourteen seconds later, Todd Perry came streaking down the left side and fired a wrist shot over Lerg's glove to give the Royals a 4-1 edge less than a minute into the second period. Former Devils forward Eric Castonguay picked up the primary assist on both goals.
Immediately after Perry's shot went in, Saturday's winning goaltender Shane Connelly came off the bench to replace Lerg, who stopped 8 out of the 12 shots he faced in 20:51. Over the course of the next thirty-nine minutes the Devils outshot the Royals 34-5 but were unable to come away with the win.
Brad Miller got momentum back on the Trenton side by pinballing a shot through traffic and past Scrivens to cut the deficit in half at 4-2. With under two minutes left in the second period, Ginand followed up his own shot and deposited his 18th goal of the season to get the Devils within one. Ryan Hayes assisted on both goals and now has nineteen on the year; Justin Pender picked up the second assist on Ginand's goal.
Carrying all the momentum into the final period, the Devils were unable to tie the game as the Royals suffocated the Trenton offense and denied them the tying marker despite almost continuous play in the Devils offensive zone. Ben Scrivens stopped 41 shots for Reading and Connelly stopped all five shots he faced in relief of Lerg who was pinned with the loss.
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