ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits

Four-Goal Second Lifts Royals over Rabbits

November 7, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Swamp Rabbits News Release


Reading, PA - The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (3-6-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers and the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, allowed four goals in the second period on Saturday, including two on the power play, and suffered a 5-1 setback to the Reading Royals (4-3-0) at Santander Arena.

Rookie forward Brian Hart scored Greenville's only tally midway through the second frame, while Royals' goaltender Connor Knapp (2-2-0) made 30 saves and defenseman Kevin Young earned his first three points of the season (1g, 2a). The loss was the Swamp Rabbits' fifth in a row dating back to October 30.

Reading opened the scoring at 14:27 of the first period when Young netted his first goal of the season to make it 1-0. Cam Reid pushed the puck around the boards to the right point, where Young pinched at the blue line and stepped into a slap shot that sailed through traffic and past the glove of goaltender Allen York.

The Royals extended their advantage to 3-0 in the middle frame with a pair of tallies in a span of 5:21 to make it 3-0. At the 6:00 mark, Maxim Lamarche guided a crisp shot from the top of the right circle to the doorstep where Mike Pereira adjusted for a one-time direction past York's right leg pad. It was Pereira's third goal of the season. Adam Comrie collected his fifth goal of the season at the 11:21 mark with a power-play tally while Bretton Cameron was in the box for cross-checking. From the top of the point, Young set up and fed the puck to Comrie in the left circle, who buried a one-time blast past York's glove.

Greenville stopped the bleeding temporarily at 13:50 of the second period when Hart notched his team-leading fourth goal of the season. At even strength, Sean Escobedo drove a low shot on target from the high slot that was halted by Knapp, but the rebound rolled to Hart at the doorstep where he jammed it home for a 3-1 score.

Sixteen seconds later, Reading picked up right where it left off when Matt Hatch registered his first goal of the season at 14:06. Along with Ian Watters, Hatch entered the zone on a 2-on-2 rush and moved from the right wing to the slot, where he sniped a wrist shot over York's blocker to regain the Royals' three-goal lead.

Robbie Czarnik capped the scoring and a four-goal second period at 17:52 when he capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play. Following minors against Domenic Alberga (cross-checking) and Ryan Rashid (tripping), Young brushed the puck to the left circle for Czarnik, where he registered his third goal of the season for the 5-1 final.

The contest included one tilt when Cameron dropped the gloves with Jason Haywood at 10:09 of the second period.

Greenville finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill. York (0-4-0) made 24 saves on 29 shots in the loss.

The Swamp Rabbits outshot Reading 31-29.

Greenville concludes a three-game road trip tomorrow night with a 5 p.m. puck drop against the Reading Royals at Santander Arena. Fans can follow all of the action online through ECHL.TV or the free Mixlr app.

Check out the Greenville Swamp Rabbits Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 7, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central