ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Win Final Game in Elmira, 4-1

Published on March 11, 2017 under ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Elmira, NY - The Reading Royals (win, 36-21-2-276) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Elmira Jackals (loss, 14-39-7-136), 4-1, at First Arena in Elmira, New York.

In the final game ever for the Royals against the Elmira Jackals (who have announced their intention to cease operations at the conclusion of the regular season), Reading scored first and pulled away with back-to-back goals late in the first to run Reading's record to 9-1-0-0 against the Jackals in the ten game season series. The win, which pushed the Royals unbeaten streak to five (4-0-1-0), served to push the Royals record to fifteen games over .500 for the first time this season and keep the team atop the North Division.

Reading struck 5:09 into the first when Jesper Pettersson ripped a shot from the high slot that goaltender Jason Kasdorf stopped with the upper body. But Kasdorf allowed the rebound to fall to the left side of the crease, where Justin Crandall punched it home for his seventeenth of the season.

Elmira answered at the 6:58 of the first when Brycen Martin ripped one from just inside the blue line and Kyle Rankin, who was floating between the hash marks, nicked just enough send the puck buzzing by goaltender Martin Ouellette low to the glove side.

Reading got what proved to be the game winner when Evan Bloodoff, playing his first game with the Royals, recorded his second assist of the game when he dished one out of the right corner to Matt Salhany, who was playing in his second game as a pro. Salhany, who was left wide open in the low left slot, blitzed a hard shot between the legs of Kasdorf for his first as a pro. That goal proved to be the game winner, making Salhany the nineteenth player to record a GWG this season.

Fifty-two seconds later, the Royals got a little insurance when defenseman Florian Iberer carried deep down the right side and slid the puck from below the goal line across and through the crease. Iberer then kept skating aroun the net and tracked the puck all the way on the other side of the cage, where quickly he slipped a backhand back towards the net that slid in on the short-side for his ninth of the year.

Reading pushed the lead to three (4-1) with a short-handed goal 9:26 into the second period, when Matt Willows, who picked up a pair of assists in the game, won a heavy puck battle in the left corner, and fed Robbie Czarnik, who was wide open and all alone right out in front of the Elmira net. Czarnik stickhandled around Kasdorf and stuffed it home for his second SHG in as many games-and his twenty-second of the year.

From there, the two teams traded chances but no one was able to break through-thanks in no small part to several great saves by Ouellette, who was named the number one star-as the Royals ran the team's record to 21-3-2-0 in the last twenty-six games the team played at First Arena dating to March 10, 2013.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS TUESDAY, March 14, 2017 v Norfolk Admirals Santander Arena - Reading, PA (7:00 pm)

ROYALS BROADCAST

AUDIO: iHeartRadio - Rumba 1340 in Reading Deibler Dental In Arena Broadcast: 99.3 fm Inside Santander Arena TELEVISION: Royals' Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15, Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965 Courtesy of Boscov's Travel and Apple Vacations

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ECHL Stories from March 11, 2017


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