Royals Win First Road Game Seven in Team History, 4-1, at Toledo

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1         2          1=4

TOL:              0         0          1=1

Records

REA: 4-3-0

TOL: 3-4-0

Goaltenders

REA: Ouellette (Win) 4-1-0 (37/38)

TOL: Lerg (Loss) 1-3-0 (16/20)

Power Play:

REA: 0-0

TOL: 0-3

Toledo, OH – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 4-3-0) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Toledo Walleye (loss, 3-4-0) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, 4-1, in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal best-of-seven playoff series at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. With the win, the Royals advance to face the Wheeling Nailers in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semi-Finals beginning with Game One in Wheeling’s WesBanco Arena on Friday, April 29, at 7:35 pm.

In the fifth Game Seven in team history, the Royals won a penultimate game in a seven-game series on the road for the first time in team history, having come up short in the prior three Game Sevens away from home ice. In this one, Reading continued the series-long trend of winning all the odd numbered games (1, 3, 5 and 7), as well securing the victory after scoring the game’s first goal—another trend that was true for all seven games. The first goal—and two others for Reading—came off the stick of Kevin Goumas, who became the second consecutive player to register a hattrick in Toledo. It was Brandon Alderson who bagged three in Reading’s 5-3 win at Huntington Center in Game Five. But the game winner came off the stick of Nikita Kashirsky (1g-2a), who was a critical member of the 2013 Championship Royals and continued a personal trend of coming up big in the biggest of games for the team. Martin Ouellette made 37 saves to register his fourth win of the series—three of which came in Toledo.

Reading struck 8:06 into the first, when Kashirsky and Crandall conspired to free a puck on the end wall with Crandall slipping it back into the right circle where a waiting Goumas fired off a hot rivet that bulleted across the body of goaltender Jeff Lerg, catching the upper left corner for his first pro playoff goal 8:06 into the first.

Early in the second, Yannick Tifu sprang defenseman Todd Perry for a long rush up the left side and deep into the left corner of Toledo’s end of the ice. Perry then slipped a pass up into the middle, where Kashirsky came slicing through a couple Toledo defenders for a quick snapper that blew by Lerg low glove side for his first of the playoff series 1:15 into the second frame.

Reading stretched the lead to three with Goumas’ second of the night, when Kashirsky dug a puck off the left half wall and fed it back to the high slot, where defenseman Jesper Petterson got off a low, hard one-timer. Just as Petterson’s shot was arriving to Lerg, who was positioned at the top of the crease, Goumas deftly re-directed the puck to the left side of the net 6:28 into the second.

Toledo got the big crowd into the game 1:27 into the third, when defenseman Matt Caito fired a seeing eye snapper from just inside the offensive blue deep line on the wide right side that floated a the body of Ouellette and caught the low left corner of the cage for his first pro playoff goal.

But Goumas took the life out of any celebration in Toledo 11:03 into the final frame with his hattrick goal. Tifu started the play with a beautiful diagonal up back-hand pass from deep on the left side to a waiting Pettersson in the right circle. Pettersson’s bid beat Lerg, but clanged off the right pipe. The puck, however, fell to Goumas deep on the right side, where he slipped a fade-away back-hander that slipped under and through Lerg to regain the three goal advantage for Reading.

From there, it was defense first for the Royals, who were able to hold the Walleye at bay despite a heavy onslaught down the stretch which included pulling their goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker for a long chunk in the waning moments.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Best-of-Seven Series

Friday, April 15 – Huntington Center (Toledo, OH)                         Royals 4-Walleye 3                 Reading Leads Series 1-0

Saturday, April 16 – Huntington Center (Toledo, OH)         Walleye 4-Royals 3                 Series Tied 1-1

Tuesday, April 19 – Santander Arena (Reading, PA)            Royals 4-Walleye 2                 Reading Leads Series 2-1

Wed., April 20 – Santander Arena (Reading, PA)                Walleye 3-Royals 1                 Series Tied 2-2

Friday, April 22 – Huntington Center (Toledo, OH)                         Royals 5-Walleye 3                 Reading Leads Series 3-2

Sunday, April 24 – Santander Arena (Reading, PA)                         Walleye 3-Royals 1                 Series Tied 3-3

Tuesday, April 26  – Huntington Center (Toledo, OH)         Royals 4-Walleye 1                 Reading Wins Series 4-3

The Royals advance to the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Wheeling Nailers starting on Friday (April 29 @ 7:35 pm) at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia. Game One can be heard live on CBS SportsRadio 1240 AM and 98.5 FM in Reading, starting with the pre-game warm-up show presented by Highmark Blue Shield at 7:00 pm Eastern Time. The game will also 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 (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.

Eastern Conference Semifinal Best-of-Seven Series

Friday, April 29 (7:35 pm) – WesBanco Arena (Wheeling, WV)

Monday, May 2 (7:05 pm) – WesBanco Arena (Wheeling, WV)

Wednesday, May 4 (7:00 pm) – Santander Arena (Reading, PA)

Thursday, May 5 (7:00 pm) – Santander Arena (Reading, PA)

Saturday, May 7 (7:00 pm) – Santander Arena (Reading, PA) if necessary

Monday, May 9 (7:05 pm) – WesBanco Arena (Wheeling, WV) if necessary

Wednesday, May 11 (7:05 pm) – WesBanco Arena (Wheeling, WV) if necessary

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