Royals Fall To Chiefs, 6-3
November 26, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release
Johnstown, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (9-6-1-120, 2nd 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 stretched Reading's winless streak in Johnstown to nine games (0-7-2), marked the first time this season that the Royals have lost back-to-back games in regulation. Goaltender Andrew Engelage (3-1-0-0; 29/34, 1 eng), sustained his first loss as a member of the Royals. The Chiefs' Kris Mayotte (3-5-2-0; 27/30) beat the Royals for the first time this year. Reading's power play failed to connect in four chances with the man advantage (0-4); while Johnstown got what proved to be the game winner while on the power play (1-5).
Despite the fact that the Royals had several Grade-A scoring chances in the early going, the Chiefs struck first 6:26 into the game when Mike Bartlett found a seam on the left side of the slot and ripped a snap shot high glove side on Engelage for his sixth of the year. Bartlett bagged his second goal of the game 2:35 later, when he got another opportunity in the deep slot and slipped a snap shot under Engelage's right pad to give the Chiefs an early 2-0 lead. The Royals bounced back 28 seconds later when Ryan Cruthers and Ben Gordon pressed hard in the right corner of the offensive end. Cruthers fed to Daniel Steiner in the low slot, and Steiner teed up a rocket that blew between the legs of Mayotte for Steiner's fourth of the year. 1:18 after that the Royals tied the game at two, when Dinos Stamoulis' break out pass was deflected by Danick Bouchard off to Andrew Sarauer, who slipped behind the Johnstown defense and made a brilliant inside out, backhand-forehand move and stuffed the puck in for his fourth of the year.
Johnstown broke the 2-2 tie at the 3:25 mark of the second when Bartlett sprang Connor Shields on a break behind the Royals' defense. Shields made a perfect forehand-backhand move and, as Engelage committed down low, he went top shelf for his ninth of the year. The Chiefs got what proved to be the game winner while on the power play at the 16:08 mark of the second when Shields flew behind the Royals defense on the right wing side, carried deep towards the Royals net and got Engelage to commit down before dropping to the trailer-Jim McKenzie-who buried his snap shot into the net, despite the fact that the goal had been kicked off the moorings by the falling Reading goaltender.
The Royals attempted to mount a comeback in the third, but Johnstown defense remained solid, preventing Reading from generating much in the way of sustained attacks. Late in the third, the Chiefs took a three goal lead, when the Royals defense lost concentration due to a scrum at the side of the Reading net, and defenseman R.J. Anderson took a shot from the right point that slipped through with 2:05 remaining in regulation. Twenty seconds later, the Royals bounced back, however, as Olivier Labelle and Andrew Sarauer battled in the right wing corner to free the puck. Sarauer threw a pass to the top of the crease where Stamoulis forced it in for his first of the year. At that point, the Royals pulled the goaltender and went for broke; but Johnstown's Jarrett Konkle stole the puck in the neutral zone and buried a long wrister to ice the game at 6-3 with 1:02 remaining in the game.
Reading returns to the Sovereign Center on Friday night (November 27 @ 7:05 pm) when the Trenton Devils visit Reading. That night, the first 1500 fans will get a collector's edition 'Royals in the NHL' player card set courtesy of VF Outlets. The radio broadcast on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast kicks off at 6:35 pm.
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- Royals Fall To Chiefs, 6-3 - Reading Royals
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