Royals Take Rubber Game Against Jackals in MLK, Jr. Holiday Matinee, 6-2

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

ELM:              1          1          0 =2

REA:              2          1          3 =6

Records

ELM: 8-21-5-0=21 (6, North Division)

REA: 21-13-1-1=44 (T-2, North Division)

Goaltenders

ELM: Isles (Loss) (4-14-3-0) (28/33) (1 eng)

REA: Ouellette (Win) (6-4-0-0) (20/22)

Power Play:

ELM: 0-5

REA: 2-3

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 21-13-1-1=42) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Elmira Jackals (loss, 8-21-5-0=21), 6-2, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In the third game in four days between Reading and Elmira, the Royals fell behind early in this Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday matinee but bounced back to take the finale of the three game set and push the team’s record to 5-1-0-0 overall against Elmira. After going zero for sixteen over the last four games on the power play, Reading sandwiched a pair of PPGs around an even strength goal to enter the third with a 3-2 lead. The Royals then exploded for three in a span of just under five minutes in the final frame to push the team’s record to 10-2-0-0 in the team’s last twelve on home ice. The victory also pushed the Royals record back to a season best eight games over .500 at the half-way point of the regular season, as the team enters the All-Star break.

As they did in Saturday’s 4-3 win for Elmira, the Jackals struck first today 3:57 into the first period when Kenton Miller fluttered an arcing shot from the right half-wall that goaltender Martin Ouellette blockered away—but right back up the middle, where Sam Povorozniuk was waiting for a quick catch and release from fifteen feet that proved to be his thirteenth of the season—and second in three games against Reading.

The Royals bounced back to tie fifteen seconds into team’s first opportunity with the man advantage 14:08 into the opening frame when Chris McCarthy settled off the left half wall and threaded a pass back to the right point where Jesper Pettersson stepped into a hot blast that hit interior of the left thigh of Matt Willows—who was creating a heavy screen in front of goaltender Andy Isles—and ricocheted into the net for Willows’ ninth of the year—and fifth in fourteen games with Reading.

3:15 after that, Reading took a 2-1 lead on another deflection—this one of the more intentional variety. Again Pettersson rocketed one from deep at the right point, but this time it was Justin Crandall, who was cutting left to right in front of the Elmira net and who deftly nicked the puck up and over the right pad of Isles for Crandall’s twelfth of the year.

The Royals pushed the lead to 3-1 twenty seconds into the team’s second power play chance 7:13 into the second period when the team connected on the second consecutive attempt for Crandall to slide one from the left goal line across the top of the crease to Ryan Penny, who was set up on the weak right side. Penny misfired on the first attempt—but not the second, as his one-time snapper fluttered up and over the catching glove of Isles for his eleventh of the year, while also serving to extend his goal scoring streak to four straight games.

Elmira made a nail-biter of things with 26.7 seconds left in the second—four seconds after the conclusion of a power play chance—when what appeared to be a bad change by the Royals provided a wide-open lane for Tyson Fawcett to charge down the right wing side on a clear-cut breakaway. Fawcett didn’t waste the gift, cutting right to left across the top of the crease to stuff in his second of the year and make it 3-2.

Reading played a smart and solid third period, until they were able to pull away with a three-goal flurry in a span of 4:53, starting 12:13 into the period. The first came when Robbie Czarnik won and offensive zone face-off and followed his own shot to gain possession at an impossibly sharp angle below the goal line deep on the right side from where he banked the puck off the back of the leg of Isles and into the net for his twelfth of the year.

3:16 after that, Reading made it 5-2 when a crushing forecheck effort by Matt Wilkins freed the puck below the goal-line for Czarnik, who fed it back up into the low slot, where Crandall stepped in to bury his second of the night. Reading closed the scoring with an empty netter by Steven Swavely, who joined linemates Tyrell Goulbourne and Ian Watters to force a turnover in the offensive end after an extremely aggressive forecheck with the net empty and with 2:56 remaining in regulation to ice things in the team’s fifteenth win in the last twenty played (15-5-0-0).

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017

v Adirondack Thunder

Santander Arena – Reading, PA (7:00 pm)

Third of Five “Flyers Fridays”

Philadelphia Flyer Stanley Cup Champion Orest Kindrachuk

 “Five Decades of the Flyers” Specialty Jerseys (On-Line Auction)

Pucks N’ Pampering Night on the Concourse

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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