Royals Fall on Buzzer in Gut-Wrenching Loss to Atlanta, 7-6

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

ATL:              3          2          2 =7

REA:              1          2          3 =6

Records

ATL: 7-6-1-1=16

REA: 6-6-0-1=13

Goaltenders

ATL: Ginn (Win) (35/41) (5-4-1-0)

REA: Dekanich (Loss) (25/32) (3-4-0-1)

Power Play:

ATL: 2-3

REA: 1-1

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­loss, 6-6-0-1=13) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Atlanta Gladiators (win, 7-6-1-1=16), 7-6, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In the fourth game in five days for Reading, the Royals found enough juice in the legs to battle back from four separate two goal deficits and finally gain a one-goal advantage at 6-5 in the latter stages of the third period; but back-to-back marginal goals in the final minute—including the game winner with just three tenths of a second remaining—cost the Royals a couple of points in the standings. The gut-wrenching loss extended the Royals’ season-long losing streak to four.

Reading fell behind early on a rather soft goal 4:15 into the game followed in relative short-order by a terrible turnover right out in front of the net that the Gladiators turned into a 2-0 lead in the first 7:35 of the game. But a force-of-will goal on a blast by Florian Iberer less than two minutes later cut the Atlanta lead in half.

From that point forward, it was a game of cat-and-mouse with the Gladiators twice regaining the two-goal advantage at 3-1 and 4-2 with a pair power play goals on the beleaguered Reading penalty killers late in the first and in the latter stages of the second on the beleaguered penalty killers for the Royals. Each time, Reading bounced back to cut the lead to one—first on a goal by Robbie Czarnik early in the second and another by Mike Pereira late in the second.

Atlanta took their fourth two-goal lead at 5-3 with just 59 seconds remaining in the second on the second one-time bullet of the game by Derek Nesbitt.

However, the Royals rallied in the third, running off three straight to turn that two-goal deficit into a one-goal advantage. The third-period markers included a power play goal by defenseman Michael Boivin at 1:31, a deflection by Steven Swavely at 11:06, and a blast by defenseman Nick Luukko out of the left circle that gave Reading a 6-5 lead with 6:11 left in regulation.

But the Gladiators did not go quietly into the night, instead a snap shot out of the left circle by Justin Buzzeo with 1:07 left slipped under the blocker of goaltender Mark Dekanich on the short-side to tie the game at six. And then with three-tenths of a second left a snap shot by defenseman Blake Kessel from the mid-slot pin-balled through the legs of Dekanich, allowing Atlanta to snatch the two points and leave the Royals empty handed.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 (@ 10:00 AM)

@ MANCHESTER MONARCHS

VERIZON WIRELESS ARENA – MANCHESTER, NH

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