Royals Fall In Squeaker To Gwinnett, 3-2
Published on January 31, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release
Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (23-18-1-350, 1st East Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Gwinnett Gladiators (20-19-3-245, 4th South Division), 3-2, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. This marked the second win for Gwinnett over Reading at the Sovereign Center this week, as the Gladiators got the better of the Royals in Reading this past Wednesday (4-1). This was also only the third regulation loss this season for the Royals in a game decided by one goal (14-3-1-3). Goaltender Matt Dalton (Loss, 14-13-0-2; 44/45), took the loss, playing in his fourteenth consecutive game for the Royals. Danny Taylor (Win, 11-9-1-2; 36/38), who played for the Royals last season, picked up his second win of the week in Reading. The Royals, who had been blanked on the power play in five of the last eight games the team played, broke through with a second period power play goal to tie the game at two. The Gladiator's also got a power play goal (1:05 after the Royals scored their ppg), which proved to be the game winner.
Gwinnett opened the scoring 6:10 into the game, when Matt Francis tracked down a loose puck in the Royals' defensive zone and slid a pass off the right half wall to the mid-slot, where Tim Miller stepped in to take control. Miller, who was behind the Royals' defender, walked in all alone on Dalton and went forehand to backhand before sliding the puck between Dalton's legs for his sixth of the year. Reading tied the game at the 11:26 mark of the first while playing short-handed. Marc Cavosie blocked a shot in the defensive zone and started an odd man rush with Andrew Sarauer. Cavosie and Sarauer worked a give-and-go into the offensive end, which ended when Sarauer fed the puck to a hard-charging Cavosie in the right circle, where he fired a hard one-timer by Taylor for his seventh of the year. The Gladiators retook the lead at the 15:35 mark of the first, when Dan Sullivan carried deep into the Royals' defensive end on the left wing side. Sullivan stopped up short low in the left circle, allowing the Reading back-checker to go by; and then passed to Scott Misfud as he came down the slot. Misfud ripped a perfect snap shot high to the glove side for his tenth of the year to make it 2-1 Gwinnett.
Reading re-tied the game at the 15:33 mark of the second period with a power play goal by Ben McLeod. After an extended period of puck possession in the offensive end, McLeod took possession just above the goal line on the left wing side. McLeod walked the line and, as he got close to the net, cut towards the top of the crease, where he fired a high back-hand that went across the body of Taylor into the upper right corner of the net. The Gladiators bounced back, however, with a power play goal of their own 1:05 later that turned out to be the game winner. Matt Caruana stepped into the high slot, where it appeared that he was poised to shoot. Instead, he fired a perfect pass to the right side of the crease, where a waiting Misfud deflected the puck under Dalton for his second of the game and eleventh of the year.
The Royals outshot the Gladiators 13-1 in the third period, but were never able to create the quality scoring chances that it would have taken to beat Taylor down the stretch. With this loss, the Royals dropped to 5-6-0-1 in the month of January and 12-9-0-2 at the Sovereign Center with thirteen more regular season home games to go.
The Royals are off until Friday night (February 5, 2010 @ 7:00 pm) when the team travels to the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey, where they'll face the Trenton Devils for the ninth time this season. The Royals game night broadcast on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast will kick off with the pre-game warm-up show at 6:30 pm.
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