This week’s Reading Royals notes
This past week, the Royals closed out the seasonlong seven game road trip with a 6-3 win at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, over the Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday (December 16). The Royals then returned to Santander Arena for the only two home games in the month of December, losing to the Elmira Jackals on Friday (December 18), 5-2, and bouncing back to beat the Jackals on Saturday (December 19), 2-0.
The 6-3 win in Norfolk on Wednesday stretched the Royals’ unbeaten streak to four (2-0-1-1). That win also completed Reading’s seven game road trip with a 3-21-1 record. Although the Royal’s unbeaten streak was snapped with Friday’s 5-2 loss to Elmira, after Saturday’s win, the Royals have gained at least a point in five of the last six games (3-1-1-1 ).
Overall, the Royals record is at two games over .500 (13-11-1-2=29), which places the team in fourth place in the East Division and tied for ninth place (with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits) in the Eastern Conference.
Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Norfolk Admirals marked the first trip in team history for the Royals to The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. That victory pushed Reading’s record to 3-0-0-0 against Norfolk with six more regular season games to be played between the two teams.
Reading and Norfolk were tied at three entering the third period of Wednesday’s game, and the Royals rang off three unanswered goals to notch the 6-3 win. Reading has a 2-1- 0-0 record when entering the third period tied with the opposition.
The Royals are outscoring the opposition 32-16 in the third period of play for a league-leading plus-16 (+16) goal differential in the final frame.
Wednesday’s game marked the third time this year that Reading has scored six or more goals— and the first time since an 8-3 win over the Elmira Jackals on October 28, a span of nineteen games.
Friday’s 5-2 loss to Elmira marked the third consecutive loss for Reading to the Jackals and dropped the Royals’ record to 1-3-0-0 on home ice against the Jackals. The bounce back 2-0 win over Elmira on Saturday pushed the Reading’s overall record to 3- 4- 0- 0 against the Jackals with five games to go (including the team’s next game on Saturday, December 26) in the twelve game regular season series.
Reading scored first in Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Jackals. That marked the sixth ‘blown loss’ for Reading this season—and the third consecutive game against the Jackals in which the Royals held a lead at one point in the contest but were unable to maintain that lead and claim the two points.
The Royals have scored the game’s first goal 16 times this season and have compiled a record of 10-40-2 in those games.
Friday’s game marked the seventh time this year that Reading has allowed five goals or more (0-7-0-0).
Reading held the Jackals to just twenty-three shots in Friday’s game. That marked the fifth time in the first six games against the Jackals in which the Royals held Elmira under 25 shots. In fact, through Friday’s game, Reading had allowed just 129 total shots to Elmira (an average of 21.5 shots per game). In that time span, Reading had given up 26 goals to Elmira, which
translates into a .798 save percentage for the Royals against Elmira through Friday’s game.
On average, the Royals allow 26.70 shots per game, which is fifth best in the league.
In Friday’s game, the Royals were missing seven of the team’s top ten scorers from the lineup: Mike Pereira (injury), Justin Crandall (injury), Cam Reid (loan to Utica Comets, AHL), Kevin Young (injury), Riley Armstrong (injury), Joe Rehkamp (loan to Lehigh Valley Phantoms, AHL), and Maxim Lamarche (recall to Lehigh Valley).
On Saturday, the Royals and goaltender Adam Morrison blanked the Jackals, 2- 0. That was the fourth shutout of the year for the Royals—and the second for Morrison, who has won two games for Reading (23-1-1)—both by shutout. The four shutouts for the Royals so far this season have come against four different teams : (i) South Carolina (6- 0, 10-18-15); (ii) Greenville (5-0,11-18-15); (iii) Manchester (3-0, 12-05-18); and (iv) Elmira (2-0, 12-19-15).
Overall, Reading has allowed 75 goals against in 27 games played for a 2.78 team goals against average (tenth best out of the 28 teams in the league).
Saturday’s game marked the seventh time in the last nine games in which the Royals scored exactly two goals. Reading has scored 84 total goals this season, which translates into a 3.11 goals per game average (tied with Elmira for eighth best).
Reading scored the team’s game winner on Saturday (i.e. the first goal of the game, 6:36 into the first period) while playing with the man advantage. Since scoring a season-high three power play goals in a 3-0 win over the Manchester Monarchs on Dec. 5, the Royals power play has gone 3 for 29 over the past seven games (10.3%).
Overall, the Royals’ power play has gone 22 for 116, which is a 19.0% scoring ratio (tied for twelfth in the league).
Reading killed off the one power play chance awarded to the Admirals in Norfolk last Wednesday. The Royals are killing penalties at a 90.9% clip on the road (second best in the league).
After giving up a late game power play goal against to the Jackals on Friday, the Royals killed off all four power play chances awarded to Elmira on Saturday, marking the sixteenth time this year that Reading has held the opposition’s power play off the board. Overall, Reading is killing penalties at a 86.0% clip (sixth best in the league).
Mike Pereira registered his fourth multi-point performance of the season (1g1a) in Wednesday’s win in Norfolk. He scored his 13th goal of the year in that game, which is tied for the team lead (with Robbie Czarnik) and is tied for fifth best in the league. Pereira has scored eight goals in his last 12 games. His twentyfour points (13g-11a) is tied for the team lead with
Justin Crandall and Adam Comrie (tied for 16th best in the league). Pereira leads the Royals in plus-minus at plus-13 (+13).
Pereira missed the two games this weekend against the Jackals due to injury.
Justin Crandall returned to the Royals lineup in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Elmira after a three game absence due to injury. Crandall’s 24 points (7g-17a) in 21 games is tied for the team lead (with Mike Pereira and Adam Comrie), which places him tied for sixteenth in league scoring—and fourth best amongst rookies in the league.
Adam Comrie racked up back-to-back multi-point performances against the Jackals on Friday (1g-1a) and Saturday (0g-2a). Comrie leads the Royals with eight multi-point games this season. His goal on Friday was his tenth of the year, which leads all defensemen in the league. His twenty-four points (10g-14a) also leads all d-men in the ECHL. Comrie’s four power play goals and 12 power play points is also tied for the league lead amongst defensemen. His 78 shots on goal is tied for second most amongst d-men in the league.
Robbie Czarnik registered his first multi-goal (and fif th multi- point) game of the year (2g- 0a) in Wednesday’s 6-3 win in Norfolk. He also scored a late-game insurance emptynetter on Saturday against the Jackals. Czarnik, who has five goals in his last seven games, is tied with Mike Pereira for the team lead with thirteen goals— which is tied fifth in the ECHL. Czarnik leads the Royals with 94 shots on goal, which is tied for fifth most in the league.
Yannick Tifu stitched together a five game point streak (1g-4a) through Friday’s loss to the Jackals. Tifu, who has 11 points (4g-7a) in twenty games with Reading this season, has racked up 190 career points (70g-120a) in 204 total games with the Royals. He is eleven points short of tying Olivier Labelle as the second leading scorer in team history.
Ian Watters snapped an eighteen game goal scoring
PHOTO BY BRAD DREY OF PURDON HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
drought when he scored the game winner in Wednesday’s 6-3 win in
Norfolk. Watters also scored the game’s first goal—which also proved to be the game winner—in Saturday’s 2-0 win over
Elmira. That was Watters’ first power play goal of the season.
Pavel Padakin, who scored the first goal of the game on Friday while the Royals were on the power play, racked up three consecutive multi-point games (1g-5a) starting last Saturday in Florida and continuing through Friday’s game against the Jackals (1g-1a).
Mike Marcou returned to North America from Austria, signed an AHL deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, and was loaned to Reading (from Lehigh Valley) on Thursday. He promptly picked up a power play assist on the Royals’ first goal in Friday’s game; and also picked up a helper on the power play game winner (by Ian Watters) on Saturday. Marcou generated seven shots on goal in Saturday’s win for Reading.
Derek Mathers fought in all three games played this past week and currently leads the ECHL with ten fighting majors. Mathers also picked up his first point of the year (0g-1a) in Wednesday’s win over Norfolk.
Goaltender Connor Knapp made 24 saves to record his seventh win of the year and extend his personal unbeaten streak to three (2- 0- 0-1) in the 6-3 win over Norfolk on Wednesday. Knapp turned out to be the hard-luck loser in Friday’s game when he came on in substitution of starter, Martin Ouellette, 10:10 into the second period. Knapp faced only two shots in 9:02 of game time, but one of those shots scored and proved to be the game winner for Elmira, which saddled Knapp with the loss.
Knapp left Friday’s game due to an injury sustained late in the second period when a teammate collided with him. Overall this season, Knapp has compiled a record of 7-6-0-1 with the Royals with a 2.85 goals against average and a .901 save percentage (and one shutout).
Goaltender Martin Ouellette played his first game for the Royals since November 15 on Friday night. Ouellette started that game and played until the 10:10 mark of the second period when he was pulled in favor of Connor Knapp after giving up the second goal of the game. Ouellette came back into that game late in the second period, when Knapp was injured in a collision with a teammate. Ouellette, who got touched up for one goal in the third period, made seventeen saves on twenty shots in 50:46 of game time on Friday; but he was not the goaltender of decision in this game. Overall, in seven games with the Royals, Ouellette has compiled a 4-2-0-0 record with a 2.30 goals against average and a .892 save percentage.
Goaltender Adam Morrison made all thirty-three saves he was called upon to make in the 2-0 shutout win over the Elmira Jackals on Saturday. That was Morrison’s second shutout of the year and his sixth shutout as a pro. In seven games with the Royals, Morrison has compiled a record of 2-3-1-1 with a 2.28 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. In 12 total ECHL games this year, Morrison has gone 4-5-1-1 with a 2.81 GAA and .903 save percentage.
Larry Courville is on pace to become the 15h coach in ECHL history to coach his 500th game on Monday, Dec. 28, when the Royals’ face the Brampton Beast in Brampton, Ontario. Courville won his 282nd game for the Royals on Saturday (282-172-20-23) to take over sole possession of tenth place on the alltime coaching victory list.
PHOTO BY BRAD DREY OF PURDON HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY