ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Take Down Devils, 5-3

Published on December 26, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Trenton, NJ - The Reading Royals of the ECHL (1st Atlantic Division, 19-9-0-038), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, defeated the Trenton Devils (3rd Atlantic Division, 11-13-0-224), 5-3, at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey. This game closed out a five game road trip for the Royals, who went 4-1 during this latest road stint. The Royals, who have won six of their last seven, are now 11-4-0-0 on the road and 10-2-0-0 in the team's last twelve games played on the opponent's home ice. Goaltender Matt Dalton (win, 11-6-0-0, 37/40) won his third straight. Trenton's Dave Caruso (loss, 3-5-0-2, 20/24, 1 eng) dropped his third decision of the season to the Royals (0-3-0-0). The Royals hit pay dirt on their only power play chance of the night (1-1). The Devils scored two while playing with the man advantage (2-7), including one mid-way into the third period goal that drew Trenton within one (at 4-3).

The Devils struck first-on their first shot of the night-forty-nine seconds into the game, when Ryan Hayes slipped into the offensive zone cut from wide on the left side to the middle of the ice and ripped a rocket over the right shoulder of Dalton for his twelfth of the year. Reading responded to tie the game 6:20 into the first when Alain Goulet sprang Ben Gordon with a perfect pass from deep in the defensive zone to Gordon high in the neutral area. Gordon blew behind everyone, went backhand-forehand, and shot over a sprawled Caruso for his tenth of the year.

The Royals took their first lead of the game with an unassisted short-handed goal by Rob Slaney 15:12 into the first. Slaney won a battle at the defensive blue line, pushed the puck deep into the neutral zone, tracked it down, and charged into the offensive end. Slaney blew a beautiful blast high glove side on Caruso for his third of the season. Trenton re-tied the game with a power play goal at the 18:08 mark of the first. Trenton entered the zone with speed and Hayes slid a perfect back-door pass to a charging Ginand at the right side of Reading's goal. Dalton went pipe -to-pipe for a beautiful stop; but J.S. Berube stepped in, found the rebound, and spun and fired for his eighth of the year.

The Royals regained the lead 7:54 into the second on a beautiful break-out pass from Louis Liotti, who gained possession deep in the defensive zone. As that pass slid through the neutral zone, a Reading player served as a decoy mid-way into the zone and as all eyes focused on him. However, that player allowed the puck go all the way to the offensive blue line where John Scrymgeour cut behind everyone, took possession and carried deep down the left wing side. Scrymgeour then placed a perfect pass to the mid-slot where a trailing Devin Timberlake filled the gap and fired home for his second of the year. Not only did the Royals score on that play, Trenton also picked up their only penalty of the game after the goal was scored, when Andy Thomas was called for boarding Scrymgeour at the conclusion of the play. Reading then proceeded to bag what proved to be the game winner 57 seconds later while playing with the man advantage. Rob Kwiet ripped a blast from the high slot, and Matt Caruana deflected the low shot over top of Caruso for his team leading fifteenth of the year.

Trenton made a game of it with their second power play goal of the night 11:22 into the third. Justin Pender carried to the top of the left circle and uncorked a bomb. Dalton kicked it out with the left pad, but the rebound hit a player in front of the net and fell to the crease where Matt Lombardi jammed it in for his seventh of the year. The Devils pressed down the stretch, but the Royals withstood the attack and Timberlake picked up an empty netter with sixteen seconds left to run Reading's record to 4-2-0-0 against Trenton this season.

The Royals return home on Tuesday (December 28 @ 7:05 pm) when the team will face the Florida Everblades at the Sovereign Center. Some lucky fan that night is going to win a trip to the Winter Classic to be played by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The Royals game night broadcast will kick off with the pre-game warm-up show presented by The Works at Wyomissing on the Royals Broadcast Network (WRAW 1340 am in Reading, www.1340wraw.com) at 6:35 pm. You can also catch all of the Royals away games this season on Royals TV exclusively on BCTV courtesy of Boscov's Travel, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Season tickets for the Royals' 2010-11 season are currently available. To become a part of Royals hockey, call 610-898-PUCK or log onto www.royalshockey.com .

Check out the Reading Royals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from December 26, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central