ECHL Reading Royals

The Royal Road Ahead: Reading Royals at Toledo Walleye

February 3, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


The Royal Road Ahead Reading Seeks to Become First Visiting Team to Win Twice in Toledo

READING ROYALS @ TOLEDO WALLEYE Huntington Center - Toledo, OH Game Time 7:15 PM et - Royals Broadcast: 6:45 PM et

REA Game No. 44: 26 -14 - 1 - 2 = 55 (2, NORTH) Road Game No. 24: 12 - 8 - 1 - 2 TOL Game No. 44: 32 - 9 - 1 - 1 = 66 (1, CENTRAL) Home Game No. 19: 14 - 3 - 0 - 1

Head-to-Head Game No. 2 of 2 (0 @ REA) (2 @ TOL) REA v TOL: 1 - 0 - 0 - 0

NEXT GAME BETWEEN READING AND TOLEDO Final Game of Regular Season Between Royals and Walleye Reading's Next Game: Saturday, February 4, 2017 @ Wheeling Nailers (8:05 pm) ROYALS BROADCAST

AUDIO: iHeartRadio - Rumba 1340 in Reading

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

STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)

ROYALS PRE-GAME NOTES -

Tonight, the Royals take on the Toledo Walleye in the second of two consecutive games at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. These are the only two games of the 2016-17 regular season schedule between the Royals and Walleye. o

The Royals won the front end of this two-game set on Wednesday here at Huntington Center, 3-2.

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This is the seventy-second regular season matchup between the Reading and Toledo, whose membership in the ECHL played as the "Storm" in the Toledo Sports Arena from 1991 through 2007, after which the team went dormant for two seasons. In 2009, Toledo's ECHL membership returned to action, taking the name of "Walleye" and playing here in Huntington Center. o

Reading has compiled an overall record of 35-25-10 against Toledo in the regular season. o

The Reading and Toledo organizations have also matched up twice in the post-season-both won by Reading. In the 2005 North Division Semi-Finals, the Royals defeated the Storm 3 games to 1 in the best-of-five first round series. o

Last year, it took all seven games for the Royals to claim the first round best-of-seven 2016 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, defeating the Walleye in the back-and-forth series in Game Seven here at Huntington Center on April 26, 2016, 4-1. That was the second Game Seven victory in Royals' team history-and the first time in team history that Reading claimed a Game Seven on the road.

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The Royals are riding a four game winning streak (4-0-0-0) and have gone five consecutive games without a loss (4-0-0-1), which has served to push Reading's record to a season-best twelve games over .500 at 26-14-1-2=55, placing the Royals in second place in North Division. o

The Royals have compiled a record of 20-6-0-1 in the team's last twenty seven games. o

Reading is riding a three game road unbeaten streak (2-0-0-1) dating to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Adirondack Thunder in Glens Falls, New York on Tuesday, January 24.

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Tonight's game is the eleventh and final matchup of the regular season for the Royals against a team based in the Western Conference. So far, the Royals have compiled a record of 8-1-0-1 against teams from the West.

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On Wednesday, Reading scored the game's first goal 18:54 into the first period while the team was playing short-handed. The Royals have notched the first goal of the game in the team's last four consecutive games. The Royals have scored first in twenty-four of the team's forty-three games (55.8%), and the team has compiled a record of 18-5-1-0 in those games, which is a .771 win percentage.

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Wednesday's 3-2 win was the fifteenth game of the year for the Royals that was decided by a one-goal differential. So far, Reading is 8-6-1-2 in one-goal decisions.

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Reading led 1-0 after one period on Wednesday. The Royals have compiled a record of 15-1-1-0 when leading after one period. The Royals led 3-0 after two periods in Wednesday's win. Reading has gone 18-0-0-0 when leading after two periods.

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Reading has scored a total of 159 goals through 43 games, which is an average of 3.70 goals per game-tied third best in the league.

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The victory on Wednesday marked the twenty-third game of the year in which Reading has held the opposition to two goals or less (20-3-0-0) and twenty-two of those games have come in the last twenty-eight played. The Royals have gone 20-3-0-0 in those games. The Royals have held the opposition to two goals or less in seven of the last eight played. o

In the last twenty-seven games, the Royals have allowed a total of 58 goals against, which is an average of 2.15 goals against per game. o

Overall, Reading has allowed a total of 119 total goals against, which translates into a 2.77 team goals against average, which is tied for the league lead in that category.

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The Walleye outscored Reading 2-1 in the third period on Wednesday, and Reading has now been outscored 5-1 in the final frame over the last two games. o

Reading has still played to a plus-21 (+21) in the third (59-38), which is third best goal differential in the final frame in the league behind Allen (+27) (66-39) and Toledo (+27) (63-36).

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The Royals power play was held off the board in three chances with the man advantage on Wednesday here in Toledo. That is twenty-first time this season that Reading's power play has been held off the board. The team has gone 11-9-1-0 in those games.

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Reading blanked Toledo's power play in five chances with the man advantage on Wednesday. That was the twenty-second time this season that the Royals penalty killers have blanked the opposition (15-6-0-1)-twenty of those games have come in the last twenty-seven played. o

Over the last twenty-seven games, Reading's penalty killers have knocked off 84 of the 91 power play chances awarded to the opposition, which is a 92.3% kill ratio during that time span.

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Defenseman Todd Perry scored the game's first goal while the Royals were playing a man short. That was Perry's second goal of the year-both of which have been scored while the team was short-handed. His other goal was scored thirty-four games earlier (November 5, 2016) in a 5-3 win over the Rapid City Rush in his first game of the season (and on his first shot of the year). Perry's goal on Wednesday was also his first 'first goal' of the year.

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Reading's second goal came 14:48 into the second period on the team-leading eighteenth goal of the season for Chris McCarthy, who also leads the Royals with forty-one points (18g-23a) in forty games.

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Robbie Czarnik, who is riding a three game point streak (2g-3a=5pts), registered his team-leading tenth multi-point performance of the season (1g-1a) on Wednesday. Czarnik, who scored what proved to be his second game winner of the year on Wednesday, has recorded twenty-three points (10g-13a) in his last sixteen games.

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Ryan Penny, who picked up the lone assist on Czarnik's game winner, has registered twenty-four points (9g-15a) in his last twenty-seven games.

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Olivier Labelle, who recorded the primary assist on McCarthy's goal on Wednesday, is the second all-time leading scorer for the Royals with 234 points (117g - 117a) in 265 career games with the team.

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Matt Willows, who picked up the secondary assist on McCarthy's goal, is riding a three game point (and assist) streak (1g- 3a=4pts).

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Goaltender Martin Ouellette stretched his personal unbeaten streak to four (3-0-0-1) with his thirty-four save win on Wednesday. Ouellette, who has started eight of the Royals' last ten games (and also played in one of the games he did not start), has held the opposition to two goals or less in seven of his last eight starts. Ouellette's 2.52 goals against average is second best in the league. He has compiled a record of 10-5-0-1 in seventeen games played and has a .917 save percentage.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS 01/23/17 Add Justin Kowalkoski (g) Signed as Emergency Back-Up Goaltender (AM) Delete Justin Kowalkoski (g) Released as Emergency Back-Up Goaltender (PM) Delete Jordan Ruby (g) Released from ECHL Standard Players Contract 01/24/17 Add Mark Dekanich (g) Assigned from Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) 01/27/17 Delete Kevin Sundher (f) Recalled to Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) 01/29/17 Add Olivier Labelle (f) Returned from Syracuse Crunch (AHL) 02/02/17 Add Kenny Ryan (f) Added to Roster - Activated from Team Suspension Delete Kenny Ryan (f) Placed on ECHL Reserve List

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2017 @ Wheeling Nailers WesBanco Arena - Wheeling, WV (8:00 pm)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017 v South Carolina Stingrays Santander Arena - Reading, PA (7:00 pm

Thirsty Thursday - $2.00 Off Select Beer from 6:00 - 7:00 pm

End 17 02-03

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