ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Fall In Johnstown (Again), 6-3

Published on November 28, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Johnstown, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (10-7-1-1=22, 1st East Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Johnstown Chiefs, 6-3, at Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The loss, which was the second (by the identical score of 6-3) in Johnstown this week, extended the Royals' winless streak at Cambria County Memorial Arena to ten straight games (0-8-2). Reading goaltender Matt Dalton (loss, 3-3-0-0; 32/37, 1 eng) suffered his second loss of the season to the Chiefs. Kris Mayotte (4-5-2; 32/35) beat the Royals for the second consecutive time, running his career record to 6-1-0 against Reading over the past two seasons. The Royals' power play was held off the board (0-5)-which included 1:09 of five-on-three in the second period. Johnstown got a pair of power play goals (2-5) and a short-handed goal to win the battle of the special teams.

Despite the fact that the Royals had several good scoring chances in the early going, Johnstown struck first 4:32 into the game when three Chiefs swarmed in front of the Royals' net. Troy Schwab kicked the puck from the low slot towards the net and Connor Shields deflected it over Dalton for his tenth of the year. Reading responded thirty-six seconds later when Ben Gordon slid a perfect pass to Ryan Cruthers at the left side of the Johnstown net, and Cruthers fired a quick snap shot by Mayotte for his fifth of the year. Johnstown re-took the lead with their first power play goal of the night 9:58 into the first when Mike Bartlett fed Sean Berskstresser between the hash marks. Berkstresser's snap shot went five-hole for his third win. Once again, the Royals bounced back to tie, this time at the 14:56 mark of the first when Danick Bouchard stole the puck below the goal line with a strong forecheck. Bouchard then slid a cross-crease to Gordon who chipped it home for his team leading ninth of the year. Once again, however, Johnstown re-took the lead with their second power play goal of the game-this time with 1:04 remaining in the first. Chris Zarb carried deep down the right wing side to a point below the goal line to the right of Royals' net. Zarb slid a feed towards the crease, where it hit Bartlett's skate and pinballed through for his eighth of the year.

Early in the second period, the Royals had 1:09 worth of five-on-three power play on which they were not able to convert. Thirty-four seconds after that expired, the Royals got another power play chance, but it would be Johnstown who would capitalize on that one, when Mayotte fed Bryan Marshall for a long short-handed break through the neutral zone and into the Royals' end. Marshall carried straight to Reading's net, where he fired low stick side on Dalton for his fourth of the season.

Johnstown took a three goal lead (5-2) 9:11 into the third, when Marshall was allowed to walk out from behind the Royals' goal, turn in the low slot, and carry through a wide open seam right to the top of the crease. Dalton rejected Marshall's bid, but Bartlett stuffed the rebound back for his second of the night. Reading responded fifty-four seconds later with a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence that started when Andrew Sarauer stole just inside the offensive blue line. Sarauer fed Olivier Labelle at the top of the right circle, and Labelle slipped a perfect pass to the top of the crease, where Charlie Kronschnabel re-directed the puck behind Mayotte for his fifth of the year. Reading pulled the goaltender late in the game in a last gasp attempt to get back in the game-and it nearly worked as the Royals had several golden chances down the stretch. But Mayotte made a couple of spectacular stops; and Marshall fired a 120 foot empty netter to ice it with forty-nine seconds left.

The Royals and Chiefs go at it again tomorrow (Sunday, November 29 @ 5:05)-this time at the Sovereign Center. Sunday's radio broadcast on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast kicks off at 4:35 pm.

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ECHL Stories from November 28, 2009


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