Hodgson ties in final minute, Royals get point at Maine

Portland, ME – Down by one in the final minute, Hayden Hodgson redirected a shot from Eric Knodel to tie the game at three with 29 seconds left, but the Maine Mariners’ Alex Kile scored a power-play goal at :23 of overtime and Maine skated to a 4-3 win Monday at Cross Insurance Arena. The Royals outshot the Mariners, 39-30. Reading remains in first place (7-4-2-0, 16 points).Corey Mackin scored for the second straight game to give the Royals a 2-1 advantage at the end of first. The edge held until the third, when Terrance Wallin and Dillan Fox tallied consecutively to put Maine in front by a goal at 13:08.  On the tying play, the Royals pulled Kirill Ustimenko (OTL, 26 svs., 4 GA) and settled at the right corner. Matthew Gaudreau (2a) fed to Knodel, who shot it from the right-wing blue line. Hodgson put his stick on the ice at the slot and it tipped through Connor LaCouvee’s legs (win, 36 svs., 3 GA).Reading is at Worcester at 10:05 a.m. on Wednesday. The next Royals home game is Sat., Nov. 16 vs. Wheeling at 7:00 p.m., where the Royals will honor veterans on their Vet’s Day contest.Box ScoreRoyals continue to score 1st The Royals tallied the game’s opening goal for the ninth time in 13 games; Jacob Graves’ right-point bomb beat LaCouvee far post at 6:31. Under Kirk MacDonald two seasons ago, the Royals scored the game’s first goal a league-best 46 times.Reading has scored first in seven of the last eight games.With Corey’s Mackin’s go-ahead goal late in the first (2-1 REA), the Royals have scored multiple goals in the first four times (twice vs. Maine).Ustimenko’s strong middle periodWith the Royals up by a goal entering the second, Kirill Ustimenko made 11 saves to keep Reading ahead by one. The 20-year-old denied most of the shots in the final half of the period; with 10 minutes left in the second, Maine had eight total in the game.Ustimenko earned his first career win vs. the Mariners Oct. 20.Wallin scores twice, Kile in OTTerrance Wallin tallied the Mariners’ first two goals and struck at :26 of the third to tie the game at two. Dillan Fox sped over the Royals line and Wallin slammed home a rebound at the top of the crease. After Fox’s go-ahead goal and the Royals’ tying marker, Jacob Graves took a cross-checking minor at 20:00 of the third that allowed the Mariners to go to the man up to begin the extra session. Standing at the right circle, Alex Kile one-timed a cross-dot feed from Greg Chase to win the game.About the RoyalsThe Royals are in their 19th ECHL season and are proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs 14 times, and are four-time division champions. The Berks County Convention Center Authority (BCCCA), founded in 1996, owns the Royals and oversees operations at Santander Arena and the Santander Arena Performing Arts Center.Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play. All Royals away games are broadcasted on BCTV (Ch. 15 Comcast, Ch. 19 Service Electric) and Mixlr.