Royals Win a Wild One in Toledo, 7-5

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Teams     Per: 1          2          3

REA:              1          4          2=7

TOL:              1          3          1=5

Records

REA: 27-14-1-2 = 57 (2, North Division)

TOL: 32-10-1-1= 66 (1, Central Division)

Goaltenders

REA: Dekanich (Win, 12-9-1-1) (25/30)

TOL:  Lerg (Loss, 0-1-0-0) (32/38) (1 eng)

Power Play:

REA: 0 – 1

TOL: 2 – 4

Toledo, OH – The Reading Royals (­­­­­­­­­win, 27-14-1-2 = 57) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Toledo Walleye (loss, 32-10-1-1 = 66), 7-5, at Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.

In the second and final game of the regular season between the Royals and Walleye, Reading scored first and led by as many as three goals in the early stages of the second period; but needed a third-period tie-breaking game winner by Robbie Czarnik with 6:37 left to stretch the team’s win streak to five and unbeaten streak to six (5-0-0-1). When coupled with Wednesday’s win, with this victory, the Royals became the first visiting team to win twice at Huntington Center, as Reading pushed the team’s record to 9-1-0-1 against teams from the Western Conference.

The Royals started strong, putting considerable pressure on Toledo goaltender Jeff Lerg, who was playing his first game of the season for the Walleye. Reading finally solved Lerg with 57 seconds left in the first, when Ryan Penny stepped out of the penalty box and into a two-on-one break with Matt Wilkins. Penny finished for his fourteenth of the year to mark the fifth straight game in which Reading has scored the first goal.

The Walleye tied things at one with 13.5 seconds left in the first when Matt Santos fired a wild slap shot from the right point that appeared to deflect off someone on the way in and catch the upper right corner of the net.

Early in the second, Reading rang off three goals in a span of 2:38 from Robbie Czarnik (0:44), Chris McCarthy (2:10), and Steven Swavely (3:22) to build a 4-1 lead. But Toledo counterpunched with a pair of power play goals by A.J. Jenks (5:04) and Shane Berschbach (8:47).

The Royals then regained the two goal advantage at 5-3 with a bullet out of the left circle by Matt Willows, who drilled a snap shot bar-down on Lerg 13:03 into the second. But once again Toledo bounced back to draw within one when defenseman Nolan Zajac finished on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence sliding a tight-in shot under and through goaltender Mark Dekanich with 2:43 left in the second.

Toledo tied things at five 2:27 into the third, when Dane Walters, who was driving down the middle of the slot, redirected a puck out of mid-air that J.P. LaFontaine had passed from the left half-wall. From there, things settled down into a back-and-forth give-and-take battle where both teams had a couple of quality chances. But it was the Royals who got the big goal with just 6:17 left when Derik Johnson stepped up on the left half wall and fired a perfect cross-crease pass where Czarnik was waiting for a re-direct and what proved to be his second consecutive game winner.

Toledo pressed down the stretch, but Reading held the Walleye at bay, and Ian Watters added an empty-netter with five tenths of a second left to ice the victory and push the Royals’ record to a season best thirteen games over .500.

NEXT UP FOR THE ROYALS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2017

@ Wheeling Nailers

WesBanco Arena – Wheeling, WV (8:05 pm)

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

STREAMING VIDEO: ECHL.TV powered by NeuLion (Pay-Per-View)

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