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ECHL Reading Royals

The Royal Road Ahead: Reading Royals at Wheeling Nailers

February 4, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


The Royal Road Ahead Reading Seeks to Complete Three Game Road Trip with Win in Wheeling

READING ROYALS @WHEELING NAILERS WesBanco Arena - Cincinnati, Ohio Game Time 8:05 PM et - Royals Broadcast: 7:35 PM et

REA Game No. 45: 27 - 14 - 1 - 2 = 57 (2, NORTH) Road Game No. 25: 13 - 8 - 1 - 2 WHL Game No. 44: 24 - 15 - 4 - 0 = 52 (4, NORTH) Home Game No. 24: 15 - 5 - 3 - 0

Head-to-Head Game No. 6 of 7 (3 @ REA) (4 @ WHL) REA v WHL: 3 - 2 - 0 - 0

NEXT GAME BETWEEN READING AND WHEELING Sunday, April 2 @ WesBanco Arena - Wheeling, WV (7:00 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 face the Wheeling Nailers at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia. This game completes a three game road trip for the Royals which began with a pair of games against the Toledo Walleye in Toledo, Ohio, which Reading won by scores of 3-2 (on Wednesday) and 7-5 (last night). o

This is the sixth matchup of the year between the Royals and Nailers. So far, Reading has compiled a record of 3-2-0-0 against Wheeling. o

The Royals have split the two games so far played here at WesBanco Arena (1-1-0-0), taking the first matchup between the two teams here, 4-3, on October 20. Wheeling bounced back to knock off the Royals here at WesBanco on November 11, 4-1. o

These two teams will see each other one more time in the regular season-here in Wheeling on Sunday, April 2, in Game Number 70 of the 72 game 2016-17 regular season schedule for the Royals. o

This is the 160th matchup in the respective histories of the Royals and Nailers. Reading, who has played Wheeling more than any other team in the ECHL, has compiled a record of 87-58-14 against the Nailers. o

The two organizations have faced off three times in playoffs with the Nailers winning two of those series: (i) 2006 North Division Finals (Best of Five: 3-1); and (ii) last year's (2015-16) Eastern Conference Semi- Finals (4-3). The Royals won the 2004 Northern Division Semi-Finals (Best of Five: 3-2) against Wheeling.

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Reading comes into tonight's game riding a five game win (5-0-0-0) and six game unbeaten (5-0-0-1) streak dating back to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Adirondack Thunder on Tuesday, January 24. o

The Royals have won three road games in a row-and are unbeaten in the last four played away from Santander Arena in Reading.

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Last night's 7-5 win over the Walleye in Toledo, pushed the Royals' record to a season-best thirteen games over .500 at 27-14-1-2=57, which places the Royals in second place in the North Division. o

Reading has compiled a record of 21-6-0-1 in the team's last twenty-eight games.

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Reading scored the game's first goal 19:03 into the first period in last night's victory. The Royals have scored first in five consecutive games and in twenty-five of the team's forty-four games played (56.8%), and the team has compiled a record of 19-5-1-0 in those games (.780 win percentage).

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Last night's game marked the third time this year that the Royals have scored seven or more goals in a single game (3-0-0-0). Reading has scored five or more fifteen times (14-1-0-0). o

Overall, Reading has scored a total of 166 goals, which is an average of 3.77 goals per game-third best in the league.

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Last night marked the first time since December 16 (a 5-4 loss in Greenville) that Reading has given up as many as five goals against. The Royals have allowed five or more against seven times this year (1-5-0-0)-last night marked the first victory for the team when allowing as many as five goals against. o

Overall, the Royals have allowed 124 goals against, which is a 2.84 team goals average-second best in the league.

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Reading's plus-42 (+42) goal differential (166 - 124) is second only to the Toledo Walleye, who are playing plus-55 (+55) so far this season.

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Last night marked the seventh time this year that Reading was awarded just one power play chance (0-1). The Royals' power play has been held off the board in the last two straight games-and in four of the last five played (1-14). o

In the twenty-two games where Reading's power play has been blanked, the team has compiled a record of 12-9-1-0.

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The Walleye touched the Royals up for two power play goals against last night (2-4). That marked the first time that Reading's penalty killers have given up more than one power play goal against since a 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Gladiators on November 13-a span of thirty-one games o

In the last twenty-eight games, Reading's penalty killers have knocked off 86 of the last 95 power play chances awarded to the opposition, which is a 90.5% kill ratio.

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Eleven of the sixteen skaters for Reading recorded at least one point in last night's game with four players registering multi-point performances: Robbie Czarnik (2g-0a), Chris McCarthy (1g-1), Ryan Penny (1g-1a), and Matt Willows (1g-1a).

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Robbie Czarnik registered his team-leading eleventh multi-point performance of the season last night when he bagged a pair of goals, including his second-consecutive (and third overall) game winner of the year last night- which was of the third-period tie breaking variety with just 6:17 left in last night's game. o

Czarnik led a list of nine skaters who played to a plus last night, playing to plus-4 (+4). o

Czarnik, who is riding a four game point streak (4g-3a=7pts), has twenty-five points (12g-13a) in his last seventeen games.

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Ryan Penny, who scored the game's first goal last night, has twenty-six points (10g-16a) in his last twenty-eight games.

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Chris McCarthy, who scored the Royals' third goal last night, is riding a three-game goal scoring (3g) and four game point streak (3g-4a=7pts).

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Steven Swavely, who scored Reading's fourth goal last night, has four goals in his last five games.

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Matt Willows, who scored the Royals' fifth goal last night, is riding a four game point (2g-4a=6pts) and assist (4a) streak.

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Ian Watters, who scored the empty netter for Reading last night, has seven points (1g-6a) in his last six games.

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Defenseman Derik Johnson recorded the primary assist on the third-period tie-breaking game winner by Robbie Czarnik last night. That was Johnson's tenth point of the season (4g-6a) in his forty-fourth game with the team, tying his total with the Royals last year (1g-9a=10ptsin 50 games).

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Defenseman Nick Luukko played plus-2 (+2) last night and leads the Royals in plus-minus at plus-24 (+24) through forty-four games, which is third-best amongst defensemen in the league (tied fourth overall).

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Goaltender Mark Dekanich made 26 saves last night to record his second consecutive win. Dekanich has compiled a record of 12-9-1-1 with a 3.02 goals against average and .908 save percentage in twenty-four games for the Royals.

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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 in Toledo. Ouellette, who has started eight of the Royals' last eleven games (and 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. His .917 save percentage is fourth best. He has compiled a record of 10-5-0-1 in seventeen games played.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS 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 02/03/17 Add Nathan Moon (f) Acquired via Trade with Toledo Walleye (future considerations)

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

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

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