Royals Come Up Short in Greenville, 2-1

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1          0          0=1

GRN:              2          0          0=2

Records

REA: 14-9-1-1 = 30 (3, North Division)

GRN: 13-9-2-0 = 28 (3, South Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Dekanich (Loss, 10-7-1-1) (23/25)

GRN:  Skapski (Win, 5-2-0-0) (33/34)

Power Play:

REA: 0 – 5

GRN: 0 – 4

Greenville, SC – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­Loss, 14-9-1-1 = 30) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, were defeated by the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (Win, 13-9-2-0 = 28), 2-1, at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

In the front end of a two-game set in Greenville, the Royals scored early but coughed up a pair of short-handed goals within a span of 3:54 in the first and couldn’t find the equalizer despite pounding nineteen third period shots on Greenville goaltender Mackenzie Skapski. The loss, during which Reading went 0-5 on the power play—which included two chances with a two-skater advantage—served to snap the Royals season-long eight game win streak .

The Royals struck 4:58 into the game when defenseman Todd Perry led out Justin Crandall with a pass down the left wing side. Crandall fired a snap shot from the top of the left circle that Skapski fought off with the blocker. However, Crandall followed his shot by breaking around a Greenville defender and swiped the rebound back through and under Skapski for his fifth of the year.

The Royals’ red-hot power play was then gifted with a delay of game minor in the latter stages of the first. But instead of capitalizing on the chance, twenty-six seconds into the PP, Reading made a careless play at the offensive blue line, and the Swamp Rabbits’ captain, Bretton Cameron, made them pay, when he picked off the puck and took off on a long short-handed breakaway, which ended when he buried a hot snap shot low blocker on goaltender Mark Dekanich 13:34 into the first.

Thirty-one seconds after that, Reading then got a second bite at the power play apple, when Greenville defenseman Spiro Goulakas picked up a double-minor (and an abuse of officials game misconduct), which served to give the Royals four more minutes of power play time, including 1:03 of five-on-three for the Royals—on which Reading appeared to score, but the goal was nullified due to coincidental minors assessed on Olivier Labelle and Justin DaSilva prior the shot that ended up in the net.

However, After the five-on-three expired, but before the second minor assessed against Goulakas was over, Greenville sent the puck into Reading’s end of the ice. A Reading defender, who was being pressed off the forecheck forced the puck up into the neutral zone, where it struck another Royal and ricocheted back into the Reading end. The Swamp Rabbit forechecking forwards were still in Reading’s defensive zone, but no off-side was called because the puck entered the zone off of a Royal. And as the play continued, former Royal Brandon Alderson stole the puck on the left half wall and found Cameron wide open and all alone in the middle of the ice. Cameron didn’t wasted that chance, either, burying another snapper low blocker on Dekanich for his second short-handed goal of the game (and tenth goal of the year) 17:28 into the period.

That shortie would stand up as the game winner, as Reading was unable to solve Skapski from that point forward despite pounding nineteen third period shots on the Greenville goal. This marked the sixth time this season that Reading’s offense has been held to just one goal (0-6-0-0)—and it also marked the sixth time this year where Reading has held an in-game lead but failed to pick up the two points.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16 (@ 7:00 PM)

@ GREENVILLE SWAMP RABBITS

@ BON SECOURS WELLNESS ARENA – GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

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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