Royals Unable to Climb Out of Early Deep Hole Against Toledo, 6-4

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

TOL:              3          2          1= 6 

REA:              0          2          2= 4

Records

TOL: 13-3-0-1=27 (2nd North Division)

REA:  9-7-1-1=20 (5th East Division)

Goaltenders

TOL:  Lerg (Win) 9-1-0-1 (23/27)

REA: Ouellette (Loss) 4-4-1-1 (28/33) (1 eng)

Power Play:

TOL: 0-2

REA: 0-2

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 9-7-1-1=20) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Toledo Walleye (win, 13-3-0-1=27), 6-4, at Santander Arena in Reading, PA.

The Royals gave up a short-handed goal on the team’s first chance power play relatively early in the first period, and the Walleye never looked back, building a 5-1 lead late the second period before the Royals hit the re-set button, charged down the stretch, and scored three straight to get to within one with 8:31 remaining  in regulation. From that point, however, the Toledo was able to keep the Royals’ attack at bay and bagged an empty netter to take the air out of the Royals’ comeback balloon, dropping the Royals to 5-5-0-1 on home ice this season.

First Period (3-0, Toledo)

7:14 (1-0, Toledo) Toledo Goal (Short-Handed Goal)

Walters (7); Holmstrom (rebound put back from low right side of the net)

Reading gave up the team’s league ‘leading’ fifth short-handed goal of the year on the Royals’ first power play chance of the night. The Walleye gained possession, entered the offensive zone, and Josh Holmstrom fired a seemingly harmless shot from the high slot that goaltender Martin Ouellette kicked out with the left pad. The Royals failed to clear the rebound, which fell to the right side of the net, and Toledo’s Dane Walters stepped in and fired a quick snapper over Ouellette’s left pad for his seventh of the season.

11:56 (2-0, Toledo) Toledo Goal

Barnes (7); Tvrdon and Nedomiel (deflection of wrap around backhand)

Toledo took a 2-0 lead on another seemingly harmless play. Marek Tvrdon carried the puck around the Royals’ net right-to-left and back up into the right circle, where the left shot forward took a relatively weak back-hand that must have deflected off Tyler Barnes, who happened to be cutting in front of the net, and slipped by Oullette for Barnes’ seventh of the year.

12:11 (3-0, Toledo) Toledo Goal

Frk (4); Chouinard and Hirschfeld (tap in from along the goal line at the left side of Royals’ net)

Fifteen seconds later, the Walleye built the lead to 3-0, when defenseman Joel Chouindard fired a shot from the high slot that hit Ouellette in the upper body. The puck fell to the goaltender’s right (i.e. left side of the net as you look at it) directly on the goal line about two feet away from the left pipe. Apparently Ouellette lost sight of the puck, as Frk was able to step in and tap it along the goal line. The puck slid behind Ouellette’s skates and into the net for Frk’s fourth of the year.

Second Period (5-2, Toledo)

3:54 (3-1, Toledo) Reading Goal

Hughesman (6); Mullane (breakaway snap shot from mid-slot five-hole)

Reading cut the Walleye to two early in the second, when a Pat Mullane pass from the defensive zone sprang Adam Hughesman on long breakaway deep in the neutral zone. Hughesman carried to the mid-slot where he ripped a hard snapper between the legs of goaltender Jeff Lerg—just as he was about to go down—for Hugheman’s sixth of the year.

4:26 (4-1, Toledo) Toledo Goal

Berschbach (3); Chouinard and Lampl (deflection of shot form the right point)

Thirty-two seconds later, the Walleye rebuilt the lead to three when Cody Lampl took a relatively soft wrister from the right point that Shane Berschbach deflected, causing the puck to bounce towards the Royals’ goal and, on the second hop, bounce over the left arm of Ouellette for Berschbach’s third goal of the year.

15:12 (5-1, Toledo) Toledo Goal

Luciani (11); Czarnowczan (long breakaway finish with forehand-backhand deke)

The Walleye extended the lead to four, when defenseman Scott Czarnowczan took control in the defensive zone and ripped a long breakout pass straight up the middle of the ice to a flying Anthony Luciani, who had blown the defensive zone, got behind the Reading defenders and took the long pass on the fly for a clean breakaway. Luciani came straight to the Royals’ net, dropped a shoulder, got Ouellette to bite, and went forehand-backhand-bury for his team leading eleventh of the year.

19:50 (5-2, Toledo) Reading Goal

Marcou (3); Comrie and Hughesman (hard slap shot from just inside the blue line)

Reading began the comeback effort with 9.7 seconds left in the second period, when David Marshall won an offensive zone face-off in the right circle. Adam Hughesman tapped the puck back to the right point, where Adam Comrie pushed the puck to the middle of the ice, where Mike Marcou set for a hard blast that beat Lerg high to the stick side for his third of the year.

Third Period (6-4, Toledo)

2:01 (5-3, Toledo) Reading Goal

Cruthers (3); Labelle and Coetzee (jam in from right side of the crease)

The Royals cut the Walleye lead back to two, when strong forecheck pressure from Willie Coetzee and Olivier Labelle forced the puck below the goal line and then to the right side of the crease, where Ryan Cruthers jammed the puck into the crease. At that point, the puck appeared to deflect off the skate of a Toledo defender and into the net for Cruthers’ third of the year.

11:29 (5-4, Toledo) Reading Goal

Watters (1); Marshall (hot snap shot from deep in the left circle)

The Royals made a game of it with 8:31 remaining when David Marshall won a puck battle in the left corner and slipped a perfect pass into the left circle, where Ian Watters stepped in and quickly ripped a hot snap shot high glove side on Lerg for his first as a Royal.

19:13 (6-4, Toledo) Toledo Goal (Empty Netter)

Barnes 2 (8); Czarnowczan (shot from offensive blue line)

The Royals pressed down the stretch and created several chances to tie the game; but Toledo dashed Reading’s comeback hopes late in the game with the goaltender pulled when Scott Czarnowczan was able to get the puck from the defensive zone, and Tyler Barnes took control, carried to a spot just inside the offensive blue line and hit the middle of the empty net for his second of the night.

NOTES:

• The scratches for the Royals tonight were: Jordan Heywood (d) (healthy), Kevin Walrod (f) (healthy), Matt Hatch (f) (healthy) (ECHL Reserve), and Andrew Johnston (f) (healthy) (ECHL Reserve).

• The loss for Ouellette, who was loaned to the Royals earlier in the day, snapped what was a five game unbeaten streak (3-0-1-1) he had going for Reading prior to being recalled to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on November 27.

• Adam Hughesman registered his team leading sixth multi-point performance of the season (1g-1a). Hughesman leads the Royals with twenty points (6g-14a) in eighteen games.

• Olivier Labelle’s assist on Ryan Cruthers’ goal in the third period was his 144th career point as a Royal (76g-68a), tying him with Ben Gordon for third place on the all-time career scoring list for the Royals.

• Willie Coetzee’s assist on Cruthers’ goal extended his personal point streak to all three games he’s played as a Royal (1g-4a).

• Ian Watters’ goal was his first as a Royal. Last season, Watters played seven games with the Royals (0g-1a) before sustaining a season-ending injury. Watters had recorded four assists (0g-4a) in thirteen games played coming into tonight’s action.

• The Royals blanked the Toledo power play tonight (2-2), marking the ninth time in the last ten games that Reading has held the opposition’s PP off the board. Reading’s PK has killed 28 of the last 29 chances with the man advantage for the opposition, which translates into a 96.6% kill ratio over that span.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

Reading Royals v South Carolina Stingrays

@ Santander Arena – Reading, PA

Saturday, December 6, 2014 (7:05 pm)

NEXT UP: The Royals take on the South Carolina Stingrays this Saturday (December 6 @ 7:05 pm) at Santander Arena in Reading. On Saturday, the Royals will celebrate our Winter is Coming and Frozen Night with appearances from Elsa, Anna & Prince Charming. The first 2000 adults 15 years of age and older will receive an adult knit cap courtesy of Steve Moyer Subaru. That night, we’ll also have our Diamond Credit Union Shoot for Community ‘Younity’. Saturday’s game night broadcast can be heard live in the Reading area on CBS SportsRadio (1240 am and 98.5 fm) beginning with the pre-game warm-up show presented by Highmark Blue Shield at 6:35 pm. Streaming internet audio is also available free of charge and can be accessed by following the ‘headset’ icon on the Royals’ website. Streaming video is available on a pay-per-view basis through ECHL.TV.

For more information about the Royals, call 610-898-7825 or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

End 14 12-04