Royals Close-Out Weekend with Comeback Win Over Cincy, 5-2

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

CIN:               1          1          0 =2

REA:              0          1          4 =5

Records

CIN: 7-9-2-0=16

REA: 9-8-1-1=20

Goaltenders

CIN: Rumpel (Loss) (0-2-0-0) (24/29)

REA: Ouellette (Win) (4-2-0-0) (23/25)

Power Play:

CIN: 1-2

REA: 1-3

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 9-8-1-1=20) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Cincinnati Cyclones (loss, 7-9-2-0=16), 5-2, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In the third and final game of the regular season between the Royals and Cyclones, the Cyclones took an early lead and held a two-goal advantage until late in the second period, when Reading’s offense found its stride and rang off four goals in a span of less than six minutes to spearhead the team’s fifth come-from-behind win of the year. The victory, which was the Royals’ third straight, pushed the team’s current unbeaten streak to a season-long four games (3-0-1-0).

Cincinnati scored 5:03 into the game on their first power play chance of the game. The Cyclones went on the power play by virtue of a delay of game minor assessed against goaltender Martin Ouellette, who was loaned today to Reading from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League and was caught playing the puck outside of the trapezoid. Twenty-two seconds into the PP chance, defenseman Eric Knodel ripped a bullet from the high slot that beat Ouellette on the glove side for his fourth of the year.

Twenty-four seconds into the second period, while the two teams were playing four aside, Cincinnati stretched their lead to 2-0, when Andrew Yogan carried down the right wing side and got almost to the goal line before he chipped a puck back towards the middle of the ice, where it hit the skate blade of Reading defenseman Todd Perry and re-directed back-against-the-grain and into the net for Yogan’s tenth of the year.

Things were pretty bleak for Reading throughout the second frame until late in the period—real late. In fact, with time ticking down on the team’s second power play chance of the game—and the period, Reading rushed into the offensive zone and worked a perfect right-left-right tic-tac-toe passing pattern in the high slot that had the puck move from Mike Pelech to Jesper Petterson to Kevin Sundher, who ripped a thirty-five foot bullet that beat goaltender Joel Rumpel low glove with just 2.7 seconds left in the period.

That late period goal seemed to ignite the Royals’ offense, as the team ran off three more goals in the first 5:50 of the final frame. The first came 3:28 into the period—just after the two teams ended another sequence of four-on-four—when Pelech set one on a tee in the high slot for defenseman Nick Luukko, who ripped a bar-down bullet for his fifth of the year.

Reading then took the lead at 3-2 fifty-seven seconds later when a deep and aggressive attack by a swarm of Reading fore-checkers created a turnover and an opportunity to force one home from the top of the crease. It appeared that Tyrell Goulbourne scored the game winner, but the goal was ultimately credited to Matt Wilkins and will be further reviewed to determine who should get credit. Either way, 1:25 after that Justin Crandall drilled one home from a sharp angle wide on the left for his third of the year to give the Royals a two-goal cushion.

Mike Pelech, who ended up with three points on the night (1g-2a), added further insurance when he finished on a breakaway triggered by a beautiful lead-out pass from Perry for his third of the season—and first in ten games. But that proved more than the Royals needed to push the team’s record on home ice back to .500 (3-3-0-0) through the first six games of the season at Santander Arena.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30 (@ 7:00 PM)

v WHEELING NAILERS

@ SANTANDER ARENA – READING, PA

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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