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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Struck Down by Poulter and Thunder in Series Opener, 5-2

February 4, 2023 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Glens Falls, NY - The Reading Royals (25-13-2-0), proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, fell to the Adirondack Thunder (15-19-5-1), 5-2, on Friday, February 3 at Cool Insuring Arena. The Thunder scored five-straight goals to surge out to a commanding lead over the Royals behind 49 saves on 52 shots faced by rookie goalie Isaac Poulter (5-6-2). Nolan Maier suffered his third consecutive loss with 32 saves on 37 shots faced (11-6-2).

Reading scored the game's opening goal for a sixth-straight game to take an early lead over the Thunder 2:44 into regulation. Evan Barratt finished off an odd-man rush off of a Thunder turnover in the neutral zone forced by Garrett McFadden. Gerard carried the loose puck into Adirodnack's zone and snapped a wrist shot on goal that squeaked under the pad of Poulter and sat in the crease for Barratt to tap across the goal line. Gerard earned the primary assist on Barratt's fourth goal of the season to join McFadden (23) and Max Newton (22) as one of three Royals skaters with 20 or more assists this season.

Royals vs. Thunder 2/3/23 | Highlights

Adirondack answered back halfway through the period to tie the game, 1-1. Travis Broughman, Shane Harper and Patrick Grasso connected on a tic-tac-toe play with the puck that set up Grasso unaccounted for in front of Reading's net. Grasso deflected a pass from Harper past Maier for his team-leading 19th goal of the season. The tying goal began a stretch of five consecutive goals for the Thunder who took a commanding lead through the remainder of regulation.

Jeff Taylor and Ryan Smith propelled Adirondack ahead by two goals in the second period, 3-1. The pair of goals were scored 35 seconds apart from each other for Taylor's fourth goal of the season while Smith scored his seventh.

The Thunder improved their lead with the first two of three goals scored in the third period. Broughman beat Maier through the netminder's pads on a puck that landed in front of Reading's crease off of a deflection 1:46 into the final stanza. Shawn Weller scored the lone power play goal of the game minutes later with a deflection on Matt Steif's shot from the blue line. Adirondack's power play unit converted on their final of three man-advantage opportunities in the game while Reading failed to score on either of their two power plays.

After Poulter allowed a goal on the third shot he faced into the game, the rookie netminder turned aside 47 consecutive shots. The final shot on goal came from behind Adirondack's goal line and banked off of Poulter's back and into the net. Devon Paliani earned the goal for his second over his last two games and seventh of the season. Brendan Hoffman earned the primary assist on Paliani's goal to improve his point streak to three games (1 G, 2 A) while Colin Felix earne dthe secondary assist to improve his point streak to five games (5 A)

Poulter's career-high 49 save effort against the most shots put on goal by the Royals' offense this season (51) ties the rookie goaltender for the second most saves in a single game in the league this season.

Reading's 51 total shots in the game ties with Wheeling and Savannah for the fourth most shots in a single game this season. The 21 shots on goal in the second period tie Reading with Atlanta, Wheeling and Indy for the most in a single period this season. The Royals are the lone team of the four to suffer a loss in the game in which they produced 21 shots on goal in a single period.

The Royals dropped their first game to the Adirondack since April, 2022 (8-1) and fell to 5-1 in the season series (43-26-7 all-time). The Royals are 2-10 when trailing after two periods and hold a 20-7-2 record against divisional opponents (.724%).

The Royals return home on Saturday, February 4 to host the Thunder at 7:00 p.m. at Santander Arena. The home game features the Pink in the Rink / Healthcare Workers Appreciation Night promotional game.

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