Royals Drop Rubber Game in Manchester, 4-2

Click Here for Box Score

Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1          1          0 =2

MAN:             0          2          2 =4

Records

REA: 10-10-0-1 = 21 (4th East Division)

MAN: 14-8-0-0 = 28 (2nd East Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Morrison (loss) 3-5-0-1 (21/24) (59:10)

MAN: Mastalerz (win) 1-0-0-0 (30/32) (59:49)

Power Play:

REA: 0-5

MAN: 2-5

Manchester, NH – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 10-10-0-1=21) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Manchester Monarchs (win, 14-8-0-0=28), affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, 4-2, at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

In the third game in three days between these two teams, the Royals struck first but couldn’t find the power play magic that propelled last night’s victory; and, instead it was the Monarchs who used the man advantage to their real advantage, as they struck twice with the extra skater, including the third period tie-breaking game winner, to take the rubber game of the three game set. The loss dropped the Royals record to 2-6-0-1 in the team’s last nine games—and just 1-5-0-0 in the last six road games with four more to go on this season-long seven game road trip.

Reading struck first when Pavel Padakin, who joined the Royals today from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, was the beneficiary of a careless turnover in the defensive zone by the Monarchs. Padakin took control in the high slot, cut left-to-right to create a shooting space and fired a snap shot that went off the blocker of goaltender Steven Mastalerz and fluttered in for Padakin’s first as a pro 14:11 into the first period.

Manchester finally solved goaltender Adam Morrison—who blanked the Monarchs last night—5:27 into the second period, when Zac Larraza found a soft seam down the left side of the slot. Matt Leitner, who would end up with three assists on the night, fed Larraza for a hot, point-blank bullet that went bar-down glove side for his tenth of the year.

The Monarchs took their first lead of the game with their first power play goal of the night 12:08 into the second period. On this one, Leitner threaded one off the left wing side to the top of the crease, where Maxim Kitsyn snuck behind a couple of Reading defenders for a re-direct up and over Morrison for his seventh of the year.

Reading bounced back in short order—ten seconds to be exact. Right off the face-off, Manchester coughed one up in the neutral zone, and Mike Pereira stole and carried for a clean breakaway. Pereira snapped a hard low rivet that beat Mastalerz five-hole for his team-leading eleventh of the year.

Manchester started the third period on the power play, and despite the fact that they did not capitalize on that sequence, they used the early advantage to build momentum and create a couple of quality looks. Shortly after killing that penalty off, Reading’s Adam Comrie was whistled for tripping giving the Monarchs a second bite at the apple with essentially back-to-back power play chances. Manchester didn’t waste this one. Leitner set Sauve in the mid-slot for a high hard laser that sniped over the right shoulder of Morrison for his third of the year—and what would prove to be the game winner.

The Monarchs added an empty netter with 51 seconds left, but the real damage was done well earlier, when the Royals just did not seem to have the necessary energy to create the quality of chances it would have taken to muster a come-back in this one.

Reading now travels to Germain Arena in Estero, Florida, where the team will face the top club in the Eastern Conference—the Florida Everblades—for three in a row, starting Wednesday night (December 9 @ 7:30 pm). Wednesday’s game night broadcast 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 2:30 pm Eastern Time. As with all Royals’ road games, Wednesday’s game will be televised live in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations. 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.

Season Tickets for the 2015-16 Reading Royals ECHL season are currently available. For more information about the Royals, call 610-898-7825 or log onto www.royalshockey.com.

End 15 12-06