Royals Break Through But Come Up Short Against Adirondack, 3-1

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

ADK:              0          2          1=3

REA:              0          0          1=1

Records

ADK: 25-9-1-1 = 52 (1st Place East Division)

REA: 18-16-2-3 = 41 (4th Place East Division)

Goaltenders

ADK: Appleby (WIN) 14-7-1-1 (43/44)

REA: Ouellette (LOSS) 8-7-0-0 (24/26)

Power Play:

ADK: 0-2

REA: 0-2

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (Loss, 18-16-2-3) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Adirondack Thunder (Win, 25-9-1-1) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Calgary Flames, 3-1, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The longer the game went, the more the Royals were all over the Adirondack on Monday afternoon, but Reading could not stop the streaking Thunder, who stretched their win streak to five. Adirondack, who entered the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday matinee riding 199:41 of consecutive shutout time over four games, bagged two goals in the second period and held the Royals off the board until the 12:10 mark of the third, when Joey Sides took the Royals’ zero off the board. The 251:51 of shutout hockey strung together by the Thunder established a new ECHL record. The Royals constant pressure in the latter part of the third was not enough knot the game despite the lopsided shooting totals in favor of Reading, 44-27. The final Thunder shot was an empty net goal cementing a victory with 6.8 seconds left.

The first frame did not see any scoring, but the Royals were able to make defensive highlights. 14:24 into the period the Royals went on a penalty kill and Adirondack spent most of the two minute opportunity in the Reading zone. The Royals penalty kill stood tall with Martin Ouellette warding off numerous shots leading to a successful kill. At the final buzzer of the period Adirondack led Reading in shots, 9-8.

Early into the second period Adirondack’s Peter MacArthur took control of the puck and would not relinquish it until he found the back of the net. MacArthur broke coast-to-coast up the left side, after slipping by a Royals’ defender who was caught in between at the offensive blue line. He cut left-to-right after entering the offensive zone and drilled a bar-down bullet from the low slot  forhis fourth goal of the season, at the 3:07 mark. The goal was also MacArthur’s third against Reading this season.

At the 18:29 mark of the second period, Adirondack extended their lead. Matthew Brodeur unleashed a shot from the point the made its way to the front of the net. From there, the puck took an unfortunate deflection off the body of Ben Johnson doing enough to find its way into the Royals net. Brodeur and Dana Fraser were awarded the assists on Johnson’s third goal of the season.

The Royals were persistent with the puck all afternoon and their thirty-fourth shot was the one that cashed. A Jesper Pettersson shot was kicked away by Adirondack’s Ken Appleby, but Joey Sides was in the right place at the right time and stuffed home the rebound-goal to cut the Thunder lead in half, 2-1. The Sides goal was his fourth of the year; Pettersson’s assist was his third of the season and Brandon Alderson was awarded the secondary assist.

As time wound down, the Royals aggressive push continued with an extra attacker and empty net, the shots were aplenty but could not make their way past Appleby. Adirondack regained control of the puck with seconds remaining and with 6.8 on the clock, Mitchell Heard found the empty net. For Heard, it was his tenth of the season.

The Royals get back on the ice this Friday (January 22 @ 7 pm) and host the Brampton Beast from Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. It is also Flyers Affiliation Night with a guest appearance from Flyers legend, Bernie Parent. Lauren Hart, the voice of the Philadelphia Flyers, will sing the National Anthem.  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 6:30 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 16 01-18