Admirals take series before sellout crowd

8,135 see surging team down Royals

The Norfolk Admirals beat Reading 4-1 Saturday night before 8,135, the first ECHL sellout crowd at Scope since 2019.

The Admirals have won seven of their last eight games, including two of three in the series against the Royals. The last game was by far the chippiest — hence 91 penalty minutes, including 43 against Norfolk.

Perhaps energized by the crowd, the Admirals outshot the Royals 14-0 in the first period and 37-14 for the game.

Keaton Jameson was named the No. 1 star, while Stepan Timofeyev was the second star.

Andrew McLean, the third star, opened the scoring 11:46 into the game off assists from Jameson and Darick Louis-Jean.

Jameson then scored shorthanded 10:35 into the middle period, which ended with the Admirals ahead 2-0.

Ryan Cox gave Reading hope with a goal 4:11 into the third period. But just 28 seconds later, Gehrett Sargis scored off a wellplaced pass from Timofeyev to put Norfolk ahead 3-1. Mark Liwiski made it 4-1 by scoring at 15:12.

With just 42 seconds remaining and the outcome clear, several players received major penalties or game misconducts, including the Admirals’ Danny Katic, Liwiski and Sean Montgomery and two Royals.

Admirals goalie Oskari Salminen had a relatively easy victory, making 13 saves. The Royals’ Anson Thornton had 33 in defeat.

The Admirals (34-19-4-1, 73 points) are solidly in second place in the Eastern Conference’s seventeam North Division, just five points behind Adirondack, and seem headed to the playoffs for the first time since rejoining the ECHL in 2015. The Royals (23-275-2, 53 points) are tied with Maine, three points behind Worcester for the division’s final playoff berth.

Norfolk won’t be home again until a March 29 clash against the Atlanta Gladiators. Before then, coach Jeff Carr’s team will play a pair of three-game road series: March 16-18 at Utah and March 22-24 at Adirondack.