Royals corral first-place Growlers, 4-1

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals scored two goals late in the first period and the final four of the game, overcoming an early deficit to stamp the Newfoundland Growlers, 4-1, Friday at Santander Arena. Alex Roos and Brayden Low tallied in a 2:25 span in the final six minutes of the first frame. Frank DiChiara added an insurance goal on the power play in the third period and Chris McCarthy (1g, 1a) notched his sixth straight multi-point effort with an empty-net tally in the final minute.The Royals limited Newfoundland to 24 shots and Callum Booth made 23 saves to move to 5-1-0-0 on the season. In the final frame, Reading allowed five shots. Michael Garteig took the loss with 21 saves.Reading has won three straight games against Newfoundland and the Royals are three points back of Newfoundland (39 pts.) for first in the North Division.Reading continues the back-to-back with the Growlers Sat., Dec. 29 at 7:00 p.m. APHILLYATION night is Dec. 29 as the Royals honor their affiliation with the Philadelphia Flyers. Four purple zone tickets are available at $15 each. Plus, an opportunity to high five the Royals players in our High Five Tunnel before the game by calling 610-898-7825!Box ScoreNewfoundland’s Matt Bradley scored the opening goal at 5:01 of the first, but Reading found momentum to take a 2-1 lead before the frame ended.Roos tucked in his fourth of the season at the left post with 5:35 remaining in the first. McCarthy set up the play by taking a pass from Josh MacDonald (2a) and sliding it off Garteig at the left post. The rebound remained free for Roos.At 16:50 of the first, Brayden Low deflected a right-point shot from Charlie Vasaturo and made it 2-1 Reading. Jack Riley dished to Vasaturo right point. He waited and timed a shot off Low, who was standing at the left slot. It fooled Garteig far post.The Royals went 1-for-3 on the man up and DiChiara’s power-play insurance tally provided Reading a 3-1 advantage with 8:29 to go. DiChiara waited and timed a top-shelf wrist shot over Garteig, assisted by Kevin Goumas and Nick Luukko. DiChiara has eight goals this season after scoring nine last season with Worcester.The Growlers were 0-for-1 on the man up.About the RoyalsThe Royals have been owned by serial entrepreneur Jack Gulati since 2014 and are entering their 18th ECHL season. Proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Reading plays in the Santander Arena, located in downtown Reading, PA at 700 Penn Street. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and are four-time division champions.Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play.