ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Falter Down the Stretch In Elmira, 3-2

Published on February 21, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Elmira, NY - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (25-23-1-3=54, 2nd 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 Elmira Jackals (29-18-3-2=61, 1st East Division), 3-2, at First Arena in Elmira, New York. The Royals scored first and battled in a hard fought 1-1 tie through the late stages of the game when the Jackals racked up a pair of goals down the stretch to pull out the win. This marked the sixth consecutive loss on the road for the Royals, who are 11-13-1-1 in the twenty-six games played away from the Sovereign Center this year. Goaltender Matt Dalton (loss, 16-18-0-2; 35/38) made a number of spectacular stops but a couple of late game unfortunate bounces and deflections proved to be the difference. Andy Chiodo (win, 4-0-0-0; 26/29) was selected as the first star in registering his second consecutive win over the Royals. Reading's first goal came while the team was on the power play (1-6); while the goal that proved to be the game winner for Elmira was scored with the man advantage (1-7).

The Royals struck on their first power play chance of the night, when Marc Cavosie carried into the offensive end straight down the slot and made a perfect behind the back pass to Ryan Cruthers on the right wing side just as Cavosie took a thundering hit. Cruthers broke deep into the zone and fired a shot that Chiodo kicked out, but the rebound fell to the top of the crease, where Bryan Ewing stepped up and back-handed it in for his fourteenth of the year. Elmira tied the game 2:18 into the second when a failed pinch at the left point, allowed Maxim Gratchev to pick up in the neutral zone and race to the offensive end down the right side. With support coming up on the left, Gratchev cut towards the net and partially misfired on a shot that slipped between the legs of Dalton, who was anticipating a cross-crease pass. That marked Gratchev's fifteenth of the year.

The second period ended on an odd-man short-handed rush for the Jackals when a drop pass to no one at the left point in the offensive zone by the Royals was picked off by Yannick Tifu, who was off to the races. Again with support coming from the left side, Tifu elected to slip a cross-crease pass to Chris Korchinski, who appeared to have an easy tap in; but a brilliant pipe-to-pipe lateral move by Dalton rejected the chance. The Jackals continued to pound the pressure early in the third, but Dalton kept them at bay with a number of quality stops. The Royals were able to right the ship mid-way into the period and generate some chances of their own, but it remained a 1-1 tie until 3:03 remained in regulation when Justin Donati dished to Tyler Donati down the left wing side. Tyler Donati cut to the middle of the ice and floated below the hash-marks with the puck on his backhand. He then flipped one towards the net that appeared to deflect off a Royals' defender and beat Dalton on the glove side to give Elmira their first lead of the night. That goal, which was Tyler Donati's twenty-eighth of the season, extended his goal scoring streak to a league-long eight games.

The Royals responded immediately with Ryan Cruthers charging into the offensive end and firing a shot out of the left circle. Chiodo made a glove stop, and Ben Gordon crashed out front colliding with the left arm of Chiodo for which he received a two-minute minor for goaltender interference. (He also picked up a roughing minor when he tussled with Chaz Johnson after the play-but Johnson also picked up minor for roughing on the play.) With Elmira on the power play, Chris Korchinski took possession at the left side of the Royals' net and chipped the puck into the crease, where it appeared to strike the skates of a Reading defender and ricochet into the net to give the Jackals a 3-1 with just 1:11 remaining in regulation. The Royals wouldn't quit, however, and with just 6.8 seconds remaining, Aaron Brocklehurst fired a shot from the right point that Marc Cavosie deflected into the net for his eighth of the year. After the face-off to restart play, with time running down, the Royals created a last-gasp chance to tie, when Cruthers won the face-off into the offensive end, and Bryan Ewing fired one towards the goal that ignited a wild scramble during which Cavosie and Cruthers had a whack at the game-tying goal. Gut it wasn't to be on this night, as the Royals dropped to 4-6-0-1 against the Jackals with three more games to play against the East Division rival.

The Royals are off until next Friday night (February 26, 2010 @ 7:05 pm) when the Wheeling Nailers travel to the Sovereign Center. 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 6:35 pm.

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