ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Even Series With Come From Behind OT Win, 5-4

April 12, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL evened (1-1) the best-of-seven North Division Semi-Final match-up with the Elmira Jackals with a 5-4 overtime victory at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Royals trailed 3-0 entering the third period, but were able to battle back and get to overtime on the strength of goals on the team's final three chances with the man advantage (3-8). In the overtime, the Royals were assessed with an early penalty, but responded with a short-handed goal by Brock Hooton to pull out the win. Goaltender Danny Taylor (1-1; 17/21) made a number of important stops, particularly on the Jackals' power play chances (1-6) down the stretch; while the Royals finally got to Joel Martin (1-1; 39/44) after over 100 minutes of shutout playoff hockey.

Elmira struck 18:56 into the first period while on the power play. Brett Pilkington walked off the right half wall and threw a pass through a Reading defender to the right side of the Royals' goal where Bobby Robins redirected the puck under Taylor for his first goal of the playoff series. The Jackals went up 2-0 early in the second period, when a neutral zone turnover provided Topher Scott with an opportunity to carry the puck deep into the Royals' offensive zone and cut right to left in the low slot. At the perfect moment, Scott slipped a pass on the backdoor to Luke Fulghum who tapped the puck in for his first goal of the playoffs. Elmira went up 3-0 with just 1:32 left in the second period, when a broken play resulted in a shot by Maxime Boisclar from the mid-slot that somehow hit one of the Royals and ended up in the net just as one of those Royals crashed into Taylor in his crease.

Reading began the comeback 23 seconds into the third period when an aggressive forecheck by Kevin Saurette resulted in a turnover in the offensive end. Patrick Jarrett took control on the left half-wall and slid a brilliant pass to the top of the crease, where Dany Roussin re-directed the puck between the legs of Martin to give Reading their first goal of the playoff series. The Royals cut the lead to 3-2 5:11 into the third with the first of what would be three consecutive power play goals. Again, Jarrett threw one to the front of the net where Roussin re-directed the puck behind Martin for his second of the night. Reading tied the game at three 7:06 into the third, with a tic-tac-toe passing play on the power play. Jarrett slid the puck to the right side of the Jackals' goal where Roussin settled and slipped the puck to the back door, where P.J. Atherton stepped down low and fired the puck home for his first of the playoff series.

Elmira re-gained the lead at 4-3 1:31 later when Bruce Watson pressed off the forecheck, stole the puck and threw a shot from low on the left side that banked off the back of Taylor and into the net for Watson's second goal of the playoff series. The Royals re-tied the game at four at the 12:24 mark of the third period with another power play goal-this one by Patrik Hersley who threw a wrister from the high slot that deflected off Chris Blight and slipped through Martin for his first playoff goal.

The two teams traded chances down the stretch, and the Royals were able to fend off a power play opportunity in the final two minutes of regulation, when the Jackals maintained offensive zone puck possession and pressure for virtually the entire segment. The Royals were faced with the prospect of killing another power play chance in the early moments of the overtime, when Rob LaLonde was called for holding 56 seconds into the OT. This time, however, it was the Royals who created the scoring opportunity-and buried it-when Kevin Saurette stole at the defensive blue line and broke on a two-on-one short-handed chance with Brock Hooton. Saurette carried deep on the left side and slid a pass through the low slot to Brock Hooton, who buried the OT game winner 1:25 into the extra session to tie the series at one game a piece.

The Royals and Jackals now return to First Arena in Elmira, New York for Game Three of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night (April 15, 7:05 pm). The game night broadcast on Tuesday will begin at 6:35 pm with the pre-game warm-up show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Ephrata, as well as on the internet through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com. Streaming video is available on a pay per view basis through the B2 Networks.

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 12, 2008


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