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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Run Over by Express, 4-2

November 25, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (7-9-1-116, 2nd 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 Chicago Express (10-5-0-121, 1st North Division), 4-2, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. Chicago scored first, the Royals' power play answered, but from that point forward, the Express rang off three straight to extend the Royals' winless streak to a season-long four games (0-3-0-1).

Goaltender Karel St. Laurent (loss, 2-5-0-0, 9/13 40:00) was pulled for his second consecutive start and sustained his fourth straight loss. The Royals' Joe Palmer (no decision, 8/8 in 20:00) came on in substitution and made all eight stops he was called upon to stop in the third period. Chicago's Paul Dainton (4-1-0-1, 29/31) earned the second star with a solid performance that kept the Royals' attack at bay, particularly in a second period charge. Reading scored on the team's first power play chance of the night (1-4) to extend the team's streak to ten consecutive games with at least one power play goal. Chicago got 1:15 worth of early five-on-three power play; and although the Royals' PK kept the Express power play off the board on the front end, Chicago's PP broke through on the back-side of that power play sequence to score game's first goal (1-4).

Back-to-back penalties against the Royals gave the Express 1:15 of five-on-three power play 5:34 into the game. Although the Royals killed the front end of the five-on-three, five seconds into the five-on-four, Tyler Donati found Tyler Johnson in the left circle for a quick snap shot that beat St. Laurent high stick-side to stake the Express to a 1-0 lead.

Reading responded with a power play goal of their own 58 seconds later, when Ryan Cruthers fired a diagonal-down pass from wide on the left side to a waiting Yannick Riendeau, who was planted in the right circle. Riendeau dropped a tap-pass to the trailing Denny Urban who had a wide open lane through the slot. Urban ripped a snap shot high glove side on Dainton for his third goal of the year-and his tenth power play point (2g-8a) of the season.

Chicago re-took the lead for good late in the first when Kyle Ostrow fed defenseman Josh Burrows on the left wing side off the rush. Burrows ripped a shot on net, which St. Laurent stopped, but the rebound kicked right back up the middle, where a hard charging Chaz Johnson fired off a quicke-one-time bullet of a snap shot for his sixth of the season 16:14 into the first.

Despite the fact that Reading out-shot Chicago 12-7 in the second, the Express scored the only two goals of the period. The first came 11:04 in, when Tyler Donati blew a low, hard snap shot from mid-way into the left circle by St. Laurent on the short side to make it 3-1, Chicago. With 54 seconds left in the second, the Express stretched their lead to three when a failed keep at the right point led to a foot-race in the neutral zone for a loose puck, which was won by Chicago's Yannick Tifu, who quickly dished to Tyler Johnson. Johnson drilled a high snap shot that St. Laurent stopped with his right shoulder, but the rebound fell to the left side of the net where a waiting Tifu punched it home for his third of the year.

Chicago played a smart, road-styled third period, keeping the Royals attack on the perimeter for the majority of the final stanza. Reading did break through however with 1:30 left in regulation, when a hard shot from the left point by Derrick LaPoint was deflected on the way in by John Scrymgeour. After Dainton made the save on that original bid, Olivier Labelle whacked at the loose puck, but it was Cruthers who batted the fluttering puck out of mid-air and into the net for his fifth of the year-and 142nd point as a Royal (two short of the team's all-time scoring record). The Royals pulled the goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker in the final 90 seconds, but, despite getting a few good looks in the waning moments, were unable to break through and dropped to 2-6-0-0 in eight games at the Sovereign Center this year.

The Royals head out on the road to First Arena in Elmira, New York tomorrow (Saturday, November 26, 2011 @ 7:35 pm), where they'll face the Elmira Jackals for the fourth time this year. The 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 road games, tomorrow's contest will be televised in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

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