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ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Sweep Railers to Take Second Place in North Division

January 7, 2023 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals, proud affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, defeated the Worcester Railers, 2-1, on Saturday, January 7th at Santander Arena. The Royals improved to 20-9-1 and completed the two-game series sweep over the Railers to surpass Worcester for second place in the North Division. Nolan Maier earned his eighth consecutive win with 28 saves on 29 shots faced (8-2-1). Henrik Tikkanen suffered the loss in net for Worcester with 32 saves on 34 shots faced (10-9-1).

A defensive standstill through the first half of regulation held the game scoreless for the opening 38 minutes of play. Maier and Tikkanen each stopped nine shots in the first period which featured the game's lone power play which the Railers failed to convert on.

Reading broke the scoreless tie on their 15th shot of a game-high 16 shots in the second period. Alec Butcher carried the puck into Worcester's zone on an odd-man rush and connected with Tyler Kirkup in the left face-off circle on a saucer pass lifted over the stick of Railers' defenseman Jake Schultz. Kirkup settled the puck and snapped a wrist shot past the lunging Tikkanen for the game's opening goal with 1:55 remaining in the second period.

With the lead captured in the final two minutes of the second period, the Royals scored an insurance goal 3:12 into the third period. Shane Sellar handled a cross-ice feed from Garrett McFadden in Worcester's zone and sniped a shot from the left face-off circle over Tikkanen's right shoulder to put Reading in front, 2-0. Butcher earned the secondary assist for his third multi-point game of the season (2 A) while McFadden's primary assist improved his point streak to five games (6 A) and tallied his 20th point of the season.

Reading's captain joins forwards Max Newton (35), Trey Bradley (33), Charlie Gerard (25) and Jacob Gaucher (22) as 20+ point scorers on Reading's roster. McFadden leads all Royals defensemen in assists (19) and points (20).

Sellar's ninth goal of the season proved to be the first game winning goal of the rookie forward's professional career as Worcester drew within a goal from tying the score, but fell short in the late game comeback effort. Forward Brent Beaudoin finished off a centering pass from Reece Newkirk with Maier caught out of position for the Railers lone goal of the game. Beaudoin's ninth goal of the season was his second point of the series (1 G, 1 A) while Newkirk earned his third assist against Reading this season.

The Royals improved to 3-0 in the season series against Worcester (31-13-5 all-time) and are 9-4-1 in one-goal games this season. Additionally, Reading bolsters a win percentage of .750% against North Division foes, good for the best win percentage among North Division teams against divisional opponents (REA vs. North Div.: 15-4-1).

The Royals travel to Wheeling to take on the Nailers on Wednesday, January 11 at 7:10 p.m. in a non-divisional clash at WesBanco Arena. The Royals return home on Friday, January 13th to host the Adirondack Thunder at 7:00 p.m. at Santander Arena for the Wizards Night promotional game. The home game opens a four-game homestand for the Royals with promotional games at the arena including Flintstones Night (1/14), MLK Day (1/16) and Craft Beer / Puck and Putts Night (1/20).

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