Royals Stumble in Idaho Finale, 3-1

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              0          0          1=1

IDA:               2          0          1=3

Records

REA: 3-2-0-1 = 7 (t-2, North Division)

IDH: 3-3-1-0 = 7 (4th Mountain Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Ouellette (Loss, 2-1-0-0) (22/24) (1 eng)

IDH:  Bow (Win, 2-2-1-0) (39/41)

Power Play:

REA: 0 – 5

IDH: 1 – 3

Boise, ID – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 3-2-0-1 = 7) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Idaho Steelheads (win, 3-3-1-0 = 5), 3-1, at Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho.

In the finale of a three game set with Idaho, the Royals fell behind again—for the fifth straight game—and weren’t able to climb out despite  aheavy third period push. The Steelheads scored on their first shot and then made short work of their second five-on-three power play in two nights, while Reading was unable to break through on goaltender Landon Bow until half-way into the third. The Royals unleashed the hounds down the stretch, but Bow and his teammates held strong—blocking any number of Reading attempts—and then bagged an empty netter to ice it.

Idaho scored on their first rush up the ice 90 seconds in when Anthony Luciani worked a give-and-go in the neutral zone with Travis Ewanyk, which sent Luciani charging down the right wing wall. Luciani slipped a seemingly harmless puck to the middle of the ice where the hard-driving Ewanyk deftly nicked it to send the puck between the legs of goaltender Martin Ouellette for his second of the season.

The Steelheads got what proved to be the game winner on their second five-on-three power play goal in two nights. This one came seven seconds into 1:09 of two-skater advantage mid-way in the latter stages of the first when Luciani set up at the top of the right circle for a carbon copy of his five-on-three goal on Friday: a hot shot that snuck through the Reading goaltender to make it 2-0 13:59 into the game.

From that point forward, the Royals had their chances, but for the second night in a row ran into exceptional goaltending on the Idaho side. Tonight, it was Landon Bow who kept the Royals at bay. Reading finally solved him 10:30 into the third period with the shooting gallery opened to full-blast. Mike Pelech sent a well-timed slap-pass from the high slot to Florian Iberer in the right circle. Iberer slightly bobbled the pass, but quickly swiped the puck into the upper right corner of the net for his first as a Royal.

Reading continued to push, but the air was taken out of the attack with 1:49 remaining when defenseman Joe Faust landed a 145 foot chip shot dead in the middle of the Royals’ empty net.

The Royals continue the team’s season-long eight game road trip next Wednesday (November 2 @ 9:05 pm et) at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland, Colorado, where the team will face the Colorado Eagles for the first time in team history. Wednesday’s game, as with all Royals’ road games this season, will be televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania on BCTV courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations. The free audio broadcast can be found at iHeartRadio on Rumba 1340 in Reading. Fans can also purchase streaming video on ECHL.TV. More information on the Royals is available at www.royalshockey.com.

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