Royals Post Third Straight Shutout Over Elmira, 4-0

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1          1          2=4

ELM:              0          0          0=0

Records

REA: 18-14-2-3 = 41 (3rd East Division)

ELM: 20-17-0-0 = 40 (4th East Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Ouellette (win) 8-5-0-0 (24/24)

ELM: Motte (loss) 9-13-0-0 (24/28)

Power Play:

REA: 0-4

ELM: 0-5

Elmira, NY – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 18-14-2-3=41) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Elmira Jackals (loss, 20-17-0-0=40), affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, 4-0, at First Arena in Elmira, New York.

For the third consecutive game between the Royals and Jackals, Reading held Elmira off the scoreboard—a scoreless span of 181:35 of game time. The Royals got all they would need early in the first when Adam Comrie sprang Scott Tanski on a breakaway; but the team would add more three more, including a pair in the third period by Riley Armstrong (one of which was a short-handed), For the Royals, it was the team’s seventh shutout of the season—three of which have been registered by Martin Ouellette. The win also pushed the Royals into third place in the East Division and eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

4:57 into the game, Adam Comrie drilled a tape-to-tape bullet from the defensive blue-line to a breaking Tanski, who took the puck on the fly and flew behind the Elmira defenders. Tanski carried to the mid-slot and ripped a snap shot over the catching glove of goaltender C.J. Motte for his fifth of the season—and what would prove to be his first game winner as a Royal.

The Royals stretched the lead to 2-0 on a similar play 16:16 into the second. This time it was Jesper Pettersson who chipped the puck from deep on the defensive side of the neutral zone to the offensive blue line, where Joey Sides skated onto the puck and broke behind the defense in on Motte. Sides cut hard left-to-right at the top of the crease, going forehand to back-hand for his third goal of the year and first as a Royal.

Reading added a pair in the third—both by Riley Armstrong. The first came while the Royals were playing short-handed 9:33 into the final frame. The Royals were able to force the puck from behind their net up the wall, where Justin Crandall gained possession and took off on the races. Armstrong joined him on the rush, and Crandall threw a cross-slot saucer that Armstrong settled and ripped behind Motte for his third of the year.

13:26 into the third, Armstrong tacked on another when he made a deceptive move from behind the net, causing Motte and the Elmira defenders to attempt to protect the wrong side of the net, as Armstrong feigned like he was going to go walk out on the left side instead came out from behind the cage on the right side and jammed the puck in on the right pipe for his fourth of the year.

Down the stretch the Royals’ attention turned to protecting the shutout for Ouellette, which the team was able to do despite an aggressive late push for the Jackals, as Reading pushed the team’s road unbeaten streak to nine (5-0-2-2).

Reading travels to the Glens Falls Civic Center for the second time in team history tomorrow (Saturday, January 16 @ 7:00 pm) to face the Adirondack Thunder for the fourth time this year. The over-the-air radio broadcast for tomorrow’s game will be pre-empted on CBS Sports Radio in Reading, PA, by NFL playoffs. However, as with all Royals’ road games this season, Saturday’s game will be televised locally 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; 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 01-15