ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Capture Second Place in North Division Behind Barratt's First Pro Career Hat Trick

Published on March 4, 2023 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (31-18-3-0), proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, defeated the Trois-Rivières Lions (20-32-2-0), 5-1, on Saturday, March 4 at Santander Arena. Evan Barratt led the Royals with a professional career high four-point game (3 G, 1 A) and scored his first professional career hat-trick. Pat Nagle earned the win in goal with 18 saves on 19 shots faced for his eleventh win with Reading this season (11-4-0). Francis Marotte (3-10-1) suffered the loss in net for Trois-Rivières with 33 saves on 37 shots faced.

The Royals scored the game's opening goal 10:58 into the first period to take an early lead after 20 minutes, 1-0. Alec Butcher led an odd-man rush for the Royals into Trois-Rivières' zone and fired a wrist shot on goal that ricocheted off Marotte's blocker and into the back of the net. Mike Chen and Nagle earned the helpers on Butcher's 13th goal of the season as well as the third consecutive game Reading has scored the game's opening goal.

Reading extended their lead to a two-goal advantage at the end of the second period which featured goals from both clubs in the final 5:15 of the middle frame. Barratt blasted a pair of one-timers over Marotte's left shoulder for Reading's two goals in the period while Trois-Rivières got on the board courtesy of Brett Stapley's wrist shot past Nagle with 1:01 remaining in the period.

The Royals allowed three shots on goal among the eight total registered by Trois-Rivières in the second and third period combined. Charlie Gerard scored his team leading 27th goal of the season off of a backdoor pass from Zach Shankar. The assist was the first point of Shankar's professional career and improved Reading's lead to three-goals 6:13 into the third period.

Trois-Rivières pulled Marotte with 4:15 left in the third period to bring an extra skater on the ice in an attempt to even the score late. Despite the extra forward, the Lions didn't register a shot in the final three minutes of play.

With 2:45 remaining in regulation, Gerard connected with Barratt at center ice to allow the Bristol, Pennsylvania native to score on the empty net and earn the first hat-trick for a Royals skater this season. Barratt is the 49th player in franchise history to record a hat-trick in a game. Additionally, Barratt's hat-trick was the 59th all-time in team history.

The Royals registered 38 shots to Trois-Rivières' 19 in the game and earned their fifth consecutive win over the Lions dating back to the start of the season. Reading improved to a 5-0 record in the season series and a 10-3-3-1 record all-time against the Lions. The Royals are 14-0 at home when leading after two periods and improved to a 26-12-3 record against divisional opponents (.671%). Reading (65) captured second place in the North Division and hold a two-point lead over Maine (63) with the win.

The Royals continue their four-game series with Trois-Rivières on Sunday, March 5 at 3:00 p.m. at Santander Arena. The home game features the Nickelodeon Blue's Clues Night promotional game.

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