Royals Establish Team Record with Twelfth Straight Win, 5-0, In Cincinnati

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1          2          2= 5 

CIN:               0          0          0= 0

Records

REA: 33-13-1-1=68 (1st East Division)

CIN:   21-20-0-4=46 (3rd North Division)

Goaltenders

REA:  Knapp (win) 17-6-0-0 (22/22)

CIN: Madore (loss) 9-10-0-3 (24/29)

Power Play:

REA: 0-1

CIN: 0-2

Cincinnati, OH – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 33-13-1-1=68) 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 Cincinnati Cyclones (loss, 21-20-0-4=46), 5-0, at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In the second trip of the season to US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Royals won for the twelfth straight time for the first time in the fourteen year history of the club. Reading struck early on a Sean Wiles break down the right wing side and never looked back as the team won their seventh straight on the road, pushing the Royals’ overall record to a season high twenty games over .500. Goaltender Connor Knapp was perfect, making all twenty-two saves he was called upon to make to record his first shutout as a Royal and push his personal win streak to eight. On the night, Reading got five goals from five different players, including David Marshall who has scored a goal in five of his last six games with the team and Pat Mullane who recorded his eighteenth of the year to cap the scoring late in the final frame.

First Period (1-0, Reading)

3:46 (1-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Wiles (16); Caruso (breakaway snap shot from low slot)

Reading struck first early on, when Michael Caruso fired a beautiful cross-ice diagonal-up seam pass from the defensive blue line to a charging Sean Wiles, who took the feed on the fly and blew by everyone down the right wing side snapping a hot shot over the left shoulder of goaltender Rob Madore for Wiles’ sixteenth of the year. It would also prove to be his third game winner of the season.

Second Period (3-0, Reading)

1:21 (2-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Heywood (6); Watters and Wiles (snap shot from mid-slot)

The Royals took a 2-0 lead early in the second, when Ian Watters, who gained possession deep on the left side of the slot, slipped back-hand sauce to defenseman Jordan Heywood, who was coming through the interior portion of the right circle. Heywood ripped a bullet across the body and over the right shoulder of Madore for his sixth of the season.

18:19 (3-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Marshall (16); Cruthers and Mullane (snap shot from interior portion of right circle)

Reading stretched the lead to three in the late stages of the second period on a carbon-copy of the goal scored earlier in the period. On this one, it was Ryan Cruthers who slipped the seeing-eye pass from the left side of the slot to David Marshall, who drilled one bar-down across the body of Madore for his sixteenth goal of the year—and his fifth goal in his last six games for Reading.

Third Period (5-0, Reading)

11:21 (4-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Hughesman (16); Labelle and Reid (backhand from the right side of the crease)

The Royals got further insurance mid-way into the third, when Adam Hughesman, who was wide open in the mid slot, took a pass out of the left corner from Olivier Labelle. Hughesman’s first bid from the slot was thwarted, but he regained possession of the puck and refused to be denied on a back-hand from in tight as he powered his way to the right side of the crease, slipping the puck under and through Madore for his sixteenth of the year.

16:36 (5-0, Reading) Reading Goal

Mullane (18); Marshall (tap into an empty net)

The Royals added insult to injury when Marshall stripped Madore of the puck behind the Cincinnati net and fed in front to Pat Mullane, who had nothing to contend with other than a wide open gaping net, and he didn’t miss recording his eighteenth of the season—and his team leading sixteenth multi-point performance of the year.

NOTES:

• The scratches for the Royals tonight were Mike Marcou (f); and Kevin Sullivan (f) (ECHL Reserve).

• With the win, Reading stretched the team’s current win streak to a team record twelve consecutive games (12-0-0-0), snapping the previous record of eleven straight wins, which was established from November 2 through November 23, 2012.

• The Royals current twelve game win streak is the longest in the ECHL this season.

• Tonight’s game was the thirty-third win of the year for Reading, which leads all teams in the ECHL. (The Allen Americans have a chance to win their thirty-third game later tonight in Ontario, California.)

• With the win, Reading pushed the team’s record to a season high twenty games over .500 (33-13-1-1=68).

• Reading stretched the team’s road win streak to seven tonight.

• The Royals recorded the team’s seventeenth road victory this evening (17-5-0-1), which ties the Fort Wayne Komets for the most road victories in the ECHL to this point in the year.

• Tonight’s win pushed the Royals record against teams from the North Division to 19-7-0-0 with twelve more games to play against the teams from the North, including this Friday in Wheeling, West Virginia, against the Wheeling Nailers.

• Reading has scored the game’s first goal in nine of the twelve games during the current win streak. Overall, the Royals have scored first twenty-eight times and have gone 23-4-0-1 in those games.

• Tonight’s game marked the second shutout of the year for Reading. The Royals blanked the South Carolina Stingrays (2-0) on December 7.

• Reading is 13-0-0-0 when holding the opposition to one goal or less and 21-0-0-0 when holding the opponent to two goals or less.

• Sean Wiles (1g-1a), who has ten goals in his last eighteen games, recorded his third game winning goal of the season tonight—and his second ‘first goal’ of this year. This marked his seventh multi-point performance of the season. Wiles, who played plus-two in tonight’s game, has played plus-fifteen (+15) in his last twenty-eight games for the Royals.

• Jordan Heywood (1g-0a), who played plus-three (+3) tonight, has two goals in his last three games.

• David Marshall (1g-1a) has scored a goal in five of his last six games with Reading. This was Marshall’s tenth multi-point performance of the season. Marshall has eighteen points (8g-10a) in his last sixteen games.

• Adam Hughesman (1g-0a), has fifteen points (7g-8a) in his last sixteen games.

• Pat Mullane (1g-1a) recorded his eighteen goal of the year tonight, which ties Cam Reid for the team lead. This was also the team-leading sixteenth multi-point performance of the year for Mullane, who leads the Royals with forty-nine points (18g-31a) in forty-eight games.

• Olivier Labelle (0g-1a), who has sixteen points (7g-9a) in his last twelve games, recorded his 172nd point (88g-84a) in his 204th game with the team. He is seven points behind Yannick Tifu, who is the second all-time leading scorer for the Royals.

• Ryan Cruthers (0g-1a) recorded his 258th point as a Royal tonight (81g-177a) in his 258th career game with the team. Cruthers played plus-three (+3) in tonight’s contest.

• Goaltender Connor Knapp extended his personal win streak to eight straight with the Royals with his first shutout for the team. Knapp has won twelve of his last fourteen games for Reading.

• The penalty kill blanked the opposition’s power play for the ninth time in this twelve game win streak. The PK has killed 47 of the last 50 power play chances they have faced over the past thirteen games (94.0% kill ratio).

• The PK has blanked the opposition a total of thirty times this season and the team has compiled a record of 24-4-1-1 in those games.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

Reading Royals @ Wheeling Nailers

@ WesBanco Arena – Wheeling, WV

Friday, February 13, 2015 (7:35 pm Eastern Time)

NEXT UP: The Royals continue the team’s five game road swing at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, this Friday, February 13 (@ 7:35 pm) where Reading will face the Wheeling Nailers for the tenth time this season. As with all Royals’ road games this season, Friday’s game will be televised live locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on BCTV courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations. The game night broadcast for Friday’s matchup can be heard live on CBS SportsRadio 1240 am and 98.5 in Reading, Pennsylvania, starting with the pre-game warm-up show presented by Highmark Blue Shield at 7:05 pm Eastern Time. Streaming audio is available free of charge on the Royals’ website (follow the ‘headset’ icon); and 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 15 02-11