ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Withstand the Pressure Cooker of the Red Hot Indy

January 30, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Indianapolis, IN - The Reading Royals (win, 27-14-1-156) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, defeated the Indy Fuel (loss, 14-22-4-335), 3-2, at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In a matchup of a pair of teams riding extended streaks without a loss, the Royals stretched their current win streak to a season-high six games in a one-goal squeaker over the red-hot Indy Fuel, who had not lost in nine consecutive coming into tonight's contest. For the fourth straight game, Reading struck first and built a 3-0 lead in the second period before the Fuel started chipping away. The Royals were put to a severe test with four straight minutes of power play against-which included two full minutes of five-on-three against-during a span from late in the second through the early stages of the third. The penalty killers knocked that sequence down, but Indy finally broke through for a PPG mid-way into the third, to set the stage for another test down the stretch. The Royals passed that one, as well, despite having to do it without Head Coach Larry Courville on the bench, as he was ejected from the game for the first time in a 440 game span over the past seven seasons.

First Period (2-0, Reading) (1-0, Reading) Reading Goal Davies (4); Heywood and Hughesman (snap shot from high slot) For the fourth game in a row-all on the team's current road trip the Royals scored the game's first goal. This one came relatively early in the game, when Jordan Heywood set Zach Davies for a snap shot from just inside the offensive blue line. Davies shot eluded goaltender Shane Owen high to the glove side-thanks in large part to a particularly effective screen by Olivier Labelle-for Davies' fourth of the year.

(2-0, Reading) Reading Goal (Power Play Goal) Reid (16); Lamarche and Heywood (snap shot from top of the left circle) The Royals took a 2-0 lead sixteen seconds into the first power play chance of the night. Again, this was another perimeter snapper that blew by Owen high to the glove side. On this one, it was Cam Reid who settled high in the left circle for the snap shot that proved to be his sixteenth of the season.

Second Period (3-1, Reading) 9:36 (3-0, Reading) Reading Goal Reid 2 (17); Labelle and Caruso (chip shot from left side of the crease) Reading stretched the lead to three with the second of night for Reid. Michael Caruso took a hard shot from the left point that deflected off an Indy player on the way in and ricocheted off end wall, where Olivier Labelle stepped in below the goal line and punched a quick back-hand towards the left side of the net. Reid gained possession and quickly zipped the puck up and over Owen and into the upper reaches of the net for his team-leading seventeenth of the year-and what would prove to be his second consecutive game winner.

14:00 (3-1, Reading) Indy Goal Arsenault (5); Jones and Bembridge (baseball-style swat on a rebound in the low slot) Indy got on the board late in the second period when defenseman Nick Jones took a shot from the right point that hit a body in front of the Royals' net and fluttered up into the air. Vincent Arsenault, who was battling for position in front of the net, batted the tumbling puck out of mid-air baseball-style behind goaltender Connor Knapp for his fifth of the year.

Third Period (3-2, Reading) 9:18 (3-2, Reading) Indy Goal (Power Play) Stroh (14); Jones and Massar (low bullet off the top of the left circle low glove side) Although the Royals were able to kill a span of four consecutive minutes of overlapping power play chances-which included a full two minutes of five-on-three against within that span-beginning with 51 seconds left in the second period and continuing to the 3:09 mark of the third, the Fuel did break through for a power play goal later in the third period when Kyle Stroh stepped to the top of the left circle and ripped a bullet across the body of Knapp low to the glove side for his fourteenth of the year-and seventh with the Fuel in twelve games with Indy.

From there, the Fuel pulled out all the stops and would get another power play chance with less than four minutes remaining; but the Royals were able to hold off the high intensity attack and notch the team's sixth consecutive win.

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ECHL Stories from January 30, 2015


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