Teams Per: 1 2 3
MAN: 0 3 3 =6
REA: 0 2 2 =4
Records
MAN: 7-4-0-1=15
REA: 6-5-0-1=13
Goaltenders
MAN: Brittain (Win) (30/34) (4-1-0-0)
REA: Ouellette (Loss) (22/27) (3-2-0-0)
Power Play:
MAN: 2-3
REA: 1-6
Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (loss, 6-5-0-1=13) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Manchester Monarchs (win, 7-4-0-1=15), 6-4, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.
In the first home game for the Royals in some twenty-two days, Reading scored first and held two leads—but a pair of quick bounce back goals held those leads to a total of 49 seconds worth of game time, while once Manchester got hold of the lead, the Monarchs were able to build (and re-build) a two-goal advantage through the final period, despite several counter-punches by Reading.
After a scoreless first in which the Royals had several golden chances to break through—including a long breakaway for Ian Watters just as time was expiring on the opening frame, Reading opened a two-minute flurry of scoring 58 seconds into the second. Mike Pereira broke into the offensive zone down the left wing side carrying deep into the circle before firing a bar-down bullet from a sharp angle for his fourth of the year.
Manchester countered fifteen seconds later when Alexx Privatera fired a shot from the left point and created a massive scramble in and around the Royals’ net. Justin Gutierrez, who had the inside track at the top of the crease, punched the loose puck home for his third of the year.
Fifty-eight seconds after that, while Manchester was playing with the man advantage for the first time in the game, Ryan Penny took off on a short-handed break and bagged Reading’s fourth SHG in the last five games when he cut across the top of the crease right to left and stuffed the puck back against the grain and into the net for his fourth of the year.
But, once again, this time 34 seconds later, the Monarchs bounced quickly back to tie the game (at two) on that same power play when Joey Diamond slipped a perfect feed to the mid-slot where Quentin Shore found a soft spot, ripping a quick snap shot up and over goaltender Martin Ouellette for his fifth of the season.
The two teams settled into a back-and-forth battle until Manchester broke the two-two tie on their third power play chance of the game. Daniel Doremus settled on the goal line at the left side of the net and slipped a seeing-eye back-door feed that went through all sorts of traffic out front and found defenseman Teddy Doherty who had snuck up on the back-door for an easy weak-side tap in for his first as a pro.
Manchester built their lead to two for the first time 6:09 into the third, when Daniel Ciampini floated backwards from just below the goal line on the left side of the net and took a sharp-angled chip shot that appeared to bank off the right side of Ouellette and tumble into the net for his fifth of the year.
Reading battled back to within one again (4-3) 11:37 into the third when Ian Watters and Steven Swavely conspired for a strong fore-check at the offensive blue line, turning back what appeared to be an easy clear for the Monarchs. The puck took a favorable bounce to Matt Wilkins who was open in the slot for a quick low snap shot that slipped under and through the left pad of Brittain for his second of the season.
However, true to form, the Monarchs bounced quickly back—twenty-seconds later to be exact—to regain the two goal advantage, when Joey Diamond slipped what appeared to be a slow-moving and relatively harmless puck that was angling right to left towards the Royals net—and may have gone wide if left to its own track. However, Ouellette reached out with the goal stick with the intent of clearing the puck out of harm’s way. Instead, the puck appeared to hit the back side of the goaltender’s stick blade and re-direct into the net to make it 5-3.
Nonetheless, Reading drew within one a second time (5-4) while on a late game power play. with just 57 seconds left, Mike Pelech threw a cross ice pass from the left half wall that hit the blade of Kevin Sundher’s stick with considerable force; but Sundher was not only able to absorb the puck but also one-time swiped it from a tough angle at the right side of the cage for his third of the year.
But that would be it for the Royals, and Diamond would add a late game empty netter thirty seconds later just to continue Manchester’s trend of scoring within just about a half-of-a-minute of all four goals scored by the Royals in this one, which also served to extend Reading’s losing streak to a season-long three games.
NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 (@ 5:00 PM) v ATLANTA GLADIATORS
SONIC SUNDAY FAMILY FUN GAME
Four Tickets – Four Hats – Four Combo Meals – For Just $44.00!
ROYALS BROADCAST
AUDIO: iHeartRadio – Rumba 1340 in Reading
TELEVISION: Royals’ Road Games are televised locally in Berks County, Pennsylvania
on BCTV, which Can Found at Comcast Reading Cable Channel 15,
Service Electric Cable Channel 19, Comcast Southern Berks Channel 965
Courtesy of Boscov’s Travel and Apple Vacations
STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)
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