ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Jump into First Place with 5-3 Win over Florida

February 7, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals (win, 31-13-1-164) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, defeated the Florida Everblades (loss, 29-9-2-363), 5-3, at Santander Arena in Reading, PA.

In the second match-up of a three-game-in-three-day series between the top two teams in the ECHL's East Division, the Royals won for the second consecutive night to catapult the team into first place for the first time this season. In this one, Reading scored first with a late period short-handed goal in opening frame; but then found themselves in a wild back-and-forth second period which featured a total of seven goals (four for Reading and three for Florida) and during which the Royals fell behind (at 2-3) for a period of time before ringing off three straight-including two in the final minute of the period-to regain the lead for good and send the big crowd (6,444) into a wild frenzy. The victory, which pushed Reading's record to season-best eighteen games over .500, stretched the team's win streak to ten, the second longest in team history.

First Period (1-0, Reading) 18:49 (1-0, Reading) Reading Goal (Short-Handed) Hatch (7); Wiles and Mullane (rebound of shot after breakaway rush) Reading struck on the team's first penalty kill of the night with the team's eighth short-handed goal of the year. Pat Mullane sprang Sean Wiles on a clean break into the offensive end. Wiles carried to the low slot where he fired a quick snap shot. Goaltender Daniel Altshuller rejected Wiles' bid; but the rebound fell to the top of the crease, where the trailing forward, Matt Hatch, swiped it home for his seventh of the year-and second short-handed goal of the season.

Second Period (5-3, Reading) 1:19 (1-1, Tie) Florida Goal (Short-Handed) Florentino (4); Brace and Fournier (snap shot from right circle) The Everblades tied the game with a short-handed goal of their own. With the two teams playing four-on-four, Florida's Gleason Fournier thwarted a Reading breakout attempt. Just as the 'Blades' Rob Florentino gained possession of the puck in the right circle, Reading's Michael Caruso stepped out of the penalty box, technically putting Reading on a power play. Florentino fired a snap shot that hit the upper portion of the blocker of goaltender Connor Knapp and fluttered into the net for Florentino's fourth goal of the year-three of which have been scored against the Royals (and two of which have come while his team was playing short-handed-one for the Elmira Jackals and now one for the Everblades).

2:21 (2-1, Reading) Reading Goal (Power Play) Heywood (5); Lamarche and Labelle (blast from the mid slot) The Royals retook the lead 1:02 later while playing on the ensuing power play (on which Florentino just scored for Florida). Maxim Lamarche fed Jordan Heywood in the high slot. Heywood was allowed to move deeper into the mid-slot where he put one a tee and launched it over the blocker arm Altshull for his fifth of the season-and his first power play goal as a pro.

9:29 (2-2, Tie) Florida Goal Marquardt (4); Burt (rebound punch-back from the top of the crease) Florida tied the game for a second time of the game on Matt Marquardt's second goal in two days. Defenseman Cameron Burt stepped up from the left point to rip a blast through traffic that made it through to the Royals' goal. Knapp blocked that original bid, but the puck bounded off his body back out in front where Marquardt was able to reach around a Reading defender and stuff the puck back in for his fourth of the year.

10:10 (3-2, Florida) Florida Goal Fournier (5); Florentino and Wahl (jam in from top of the crease) Florida took what would prove to be their only lead 41 seconds later. Florentino took a shot from the point that Mitch Wahl redirected through heavy traffic on net. Knapp came out in the butterfly to stop that shot, but it fell out in front of his knees, where Gleason Fournier reached in and quickly stuffed it between Knapp's legs for his fifth of the year.

11:13 (3-3, Tie) Reading Goal Marshall (14); Johnston and Watters (one-time snap shot from left circle) Now trailing, the Royals tapped into the energy of the big crowd at Santander Arena and quickly re-tied the game, this time at three. It was Andrew Johnston who dug down deep to ignite the momentum shift in favor of Reading. Johnston chipped the puck behind the Florida net and charged in and tracked it down himself. He dug the puck off the wall, carried it from below the goal line to a spot low in the right circle and then threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to a waiting David Marshall who was set in the left circle for the weak-side one-timer. Marshall, who has scored a goal in four of his last five games for Reading, didn't miss, bagging his fourteenth of the season.

19:03 (4-3, Reading) Reading Goal (Power Play) Labelle (17); Lamarche and Hughesman (punch-in from top of the crease) Reading re-took the lead on the team's sixth power play of chance of the night with less than a minute remaining in the second period. With the Royals buzzing in the offensive zone, Maxim Lamarche ripped a rocket off the left point that Altshuller kicked out with the left pad. The rebound, however, fell to the top of the crease, where the Royals' all-time career goal scoring leader, Olivier Labelle, had the inside track for quick slam back and his seventeenth of the year-and what would prove to be his fourth game winner of the season.

19:19 (5-3, Reading) Reading Goal Wiles (15); Johnston and Hatch (baseball-style swipe of a fluttering rebound) The Royals bagged an insurance marker right off the face-off to re-start play after the Labelle power play goal. Andrew Johnston carried into the offensive end and fired a quick snap shot from the mid-slot that was stopped by Altshuller; but the rebound fluttered high pad off his left pad and as it was plummeting back to earth a crashing Sean Wiles batted the puck out of mid-air over the left arm of Altshuller for Wiles' fifteenth of the year.

Third Period (5-3, Reading) NO SCORING Unlike last night, when the Everblades bagged a couple of third period goals to make it a true nail-biter, Reading played a solid and simple third period that, for the most part, kept Florida at bay-even during a mid-period power play-keeping the Everblades off the board and securing Reading's fifth consecutive home victory.

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ECHL Stories from February 7, 2015


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