Jackals Explode In Third Period In Win Over Royals
Published on December 26, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Elmira Jackals News Release
The Elmira Jackals used four third-period goals on Saturday night to secure a 6-3 victory over the Reading Royals at First Arena in Elmira, NY. 4,076 fans witnessed the contest for the Jackals league-leading eighth sellout of the season.
After Ben Gordon gave Reading an early first period lead at 4:58, the Jackals took advantage of their first power play of the game. Mat Robinson's shot at 17:47 of the contest deflected off of Reading's Andrew Sarauer and past Royals goaltender Matt Dalton to even the contest 1-1.
In the second period, the Jackals received some help from a newly-signed, but familiar, player, when Mike Sgroi, beginning his third season as a Jackal, fired a puck from Dalton's right side past the netminder to give the Jackals the 2-1 advantage at 11:02 of the second period.
The Jackals entered the third period with a one-goal advantage, but came flying out of the gate, with a goal from Joe Grimaldi 31 seconds into the third period to give the Jackals a two-goal cushion.
Moments later Brendan Connolly snapped a puck over the right shoulder of Dalton at 2:38 of the third period with what would prove to be the game-winning goal, giving Elmira a 4-1 lead.
After Olivier Labelle scored for Reading at 4:23 of the third period, Justin Donati jammed in a loose puck 24 seconds later to regain the three-goal lead. Jarrett Konkle one-timed a power-play goal home at 12:11 of the third period for his second goal with the Jackals this season to make it 6-2. A late Reading goal by Gavin Morgan closed out the scoring, and the Jackals prevailed 6-3.
With the victory, the Jackals won their second straight game for the first time since their seven-game winning streak in October. The win upped the Jackals record to 13-12-2-2 and moved Elmira to within seven points of Reading, which fell to 17-10-1-2, for the top spot in the American East Division.
Chris Holt, assigned to Elmira by Binghamton (AHL) earlier in the day, made 29 saves on 32 Royals shots in the winning effort, improving to 6-3-1-0 with the Jackals this season. Dalton fell to 9-5-0-1, stopping 34 of 40 Jackals shots.
The Jackals try to make it three victories in a row when they play at the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday evening at 6:35 p.m.
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