Devils Control Pace in Win Over Royals, 5-3
March 13, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL) - Trenton Devils News Release
TRENTON, N.J. (March 13, 2009) -- The Trenton Devils returned home for the first time in two and a half weeks and did not disappoint with a 5-3 win over the Reading Royals Friday night. Eric Castonguay and Jeff Prough each tallied a shorthanded goal and two assists to lead the Devils into third place of the ECHL's North Division.
The Devils started the scoring at 9:19 the first period when David Leaderer picked up his 11th goal of the season. The defenseman took a pass from Castonguay in the slot and fired it over the right pad of Michael Ouzas for the goal.
Prough extended the lead on a shorthanded goal at 6:11. Castonguay stole the puck in the neutral zone and found Prough on a clear breakaway, and he delivered by putting the puck top shelf for his 26th of the season.
The Devils kept rolling when Jim Henkel's pass intended for Castonguay went off the skate of Tom Sawatske and into the net, giving Henkel his 17th of the season at 17:32. Twelve seconds later, the Royals broke up the shutout on Chris Stevens' 18th goal of the season.
The Royals made it a one goal game at 7:28 of the second when Dan Rudisuela picked his 18th goal of the season.
The Devils scored their second shorthanded goal of the night at 15:03. This time, Castonguay took a feed from Prough and buried the stash to give Trenton their first game with two shorthanded goals since January 9, 2004, when Scott Bertoli scored twice on the penalty kill.
The Royals would continue to fight back. Eleven seconds into the third period, McLeod knocked in a rebound to score his ninth of the season and put the Royals back into the game.
The Devils put away the game on the power play, as Brad Snetsinger's repeated attempts to knock in the loose puck worked to give the Devils a 5-3 lead at 8:03.
Gerald Coleman made 33 saves to earn his 24th win of the season. The Devils outshot the Royals, 41-36, and went 1-for-5 on the power play.
The Devils will have the opportunity to move into first place in the division with a re-match with the Royals in Reading Saturday night; with the puck drop set for 7:05 p.m. Fans can listen to the free audio broadcast by logging on to the Devils' official website, www.trentondevils.com.
TRENTON DEVILS - The Trenton Devils are a member of the ECHL -- North America's Premier "AA" Hockey League. The Trenton Devils are owned and operated by the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League.
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