ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Flounder Against Florida, 8-3

March 14, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (29-27-3-465, 3rd Atlantic 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 Florida Everblades (32-24-2-571, 4th South Division Division), 8-3, at Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. Reading's Yannick Tifu struck for a pair of early goals, but the Everblades struck for eight of the next nine to blow by the Royals for the third time in five games between the two teams this season (2-3-0-0)

Goaltender Mark Owuya (loss, 10-4-2-1, 19/26 in 44:40) had an unequal performance, making a number of quality saves; but also being victimized by a couple of less than spectacular goals. Karel St. Laurent (no decision, 3/4 in 15:20) came on to close out the game after Florida blew it wide open in the third. Florida's John Muse (win, 10-4-1-2, 27/30) won his first game against Reading this year. The Royals power play was blanked for the sixth time in the last nine games (0-3). Florida took the lead at 3-2 with a power play goal mid-way into the second (1-2).

Reading struck first 8:39 into the game when Yannick Tifu carried into the offensive zone on the left wing side, toe-dragged to the mid-slot and fired a snap shot that went under and through Muse for his Tifu's seventeenth of the year. 1:13 after that, Tifu made it 2-0 with another goal off the rush, when he was sprung for a breakaway on a long pass from Marc Cantin. Tifu made a brilliant forehand-backhand-forehand stuff move as he carried in on Muse to extend the Royals' lead.

Florida rang off the next four straight, starting 12:09 into the first, when Matt Beca punched back a rebound for his eighteenth of the year. 4:56 into the second, Florida tied the game at two with a long blast by Matt Marquardt that eluded Owuya's glove hand. The Everblades power play came through 7:22 into the second, when Mike Ratchuk feed cross-crease to Mathieu Roy for a clean weak-side look. Owuya made the save on that bid, but the rebound fell to the top of the crease, where Brayden Irwin punched it home to make it 3-2, Florida. Forty-seven seconds later, after the Royals misfired off the rush, the Everblades' Scott Pitt finished on a counter-punch breakaway.

The Royals drew back within one at 4-3 16:13 into the second, when Mikael Bedard fired out of the right circle into the shin pad of a Florida defender. The rebound came back to Bedard who battled to gain possession and slip a pass to the left side of the crease where a waiting Matt Caruana re-directed it home for his seventh of the year.

Reading pushed hard in the waning moments of the second period and created several golden chances to tie things up. The Royals didn't score on that flurry but did get a power play out of the late period scramble with seventeen seconds left in the period. However, the team mishandled the puck at the offensive blue line, resulting in a short-handed breakaway for Florida's Roy, who finished it with 2.4 seconds left in the period to once again stake Florida to a two-goal lead. That one proved to be a back-breaker.

The Everblades tacked on three in the third: a bar-and-in back-hand by Trevor Breuss after a bad defensive zone turnover 4:08 in; a multi-shot rebound finish by Mike Ratchuk after a neutral zone turnover thirty-two seconds later; and a bar-and-in bullet off the rush by Bobby Raymond with 9:19 remaining in regulation. But that was way more than the Everblades would in this one, as the Royals were never able to pull it back together and mount a credible third-period come-back effort.

The Royals return to action on Friday (March 16, 2012 @ 7:35 pm) when the team travels to WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, to face the Wheeling Nailers. Friday's game night broadcast will start at 7:05 pm with the Red Robin Gourmet Burger Pre-Game Warm-up Show on ESPN Radio 1240 am in Reading. Streaming audio is available free of charge courtesy of America One through the Royals' website, www.royalshockey.com. As with all Royals road games this season, Friday's game will be televised locally in Berks County on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel and the Royal Caribbean Cruise lines.

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ECHL Stories from March 14, 2012


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