ECHL: Reading Royals Take Advantage on Home Ice to Lead the Series 2-0

The Reading Royals capitalized on their home-ice advantage by taking both games to lead the series against the Maine Mariners 2-0.

The Reading Royals took Game 2 of the series against the Maine Mariners with a 5-3 victory with new goal scorers for all eight goals of the game. The Royals kept the same starting lineup for Game 2 with forwards Charlie Gerard, Max Newton, Solag Bakich, defensemen Will MacKinnon, and Colin Felix. The Mariners changed their starting lineup from Game 1, consisting of forwards Alex Kile, Reid Stefanson, Matthew Santos, and defensemen Connor Doherty and Marc-Olivier Duquette. For Game 2, the Mariners starting lineup consisted of Reid Stefanson, Alex Kile, Alex-Olivier Voyer, defensemen Andrew Peski and Gabriel Chicoine. Game 2 started much differently than Game 1, with two goals scored by both Reading and Maine by the end of the period. Brendan Hoffmann scored first, giving the Royals their first lead at 5:02 seconds, assisted by Colin Felix and Devon Paliani. Jacob Wilson tied the game just one minute and fifty-five seconds later to tie the game, assisted by Mitchell Fossier and Connor Doherty. Reading then took their second lead of the game at 13:25 seconds, with Jacob Gaucher scoring on the power play, assisted by Mason Millman and Tyler Heidt. It was the first power play goal of the series for either team, but the goal was not enough as Alex-Olivier Voyer tied up the game at 18:33 seconds, assisted by Carter Johnson and Jacob Wilson. The period ended with five total penalties, three on Maine and two on Reading. Three of the five penalties were roughing calls, two for Maine by Matthew Santos and Connor Doherty and one for Reading by Shane Sellar. The first-period shots on goal were 12 for Maine and 16 for Reading.

The second period saw just two goals, both for Reading, one at 4:07 seconds by Evan Barratt, assisted by Jacob Gaucher and Zayde Wisdom, and the other at 15:10 seconds by Max Newton, assisted by Evan Barratt and Garrett McFadden. The second goal scored by Newton was the second and last power play goal of the game, an improvement for the Royals from the regular season, where they sat at 19% on the power play. The period saw four penalties as well, two for Maine and two for Reading. One of Maine’s second-period penalties was a second Roughing call on Connor Doherty. Shots on goal at the end of the second period were 12 for Maine and 11 for Reading.

The game’s final period saw five penalties, one of which was on Royals’ goaltender Pat Nagle for Slashing. Both teams scored during the period, with Maine scoring first at 11:49 seconds by Mitchell Fossier, assisted by Matthew Santos and Jacob Wilson. With the end of the game nearing and Maine down by a goal, the team pulled their goalie to try and tie up the game, but the Royals had other ideas as Zayde Wisdom scored an empty net goal at 17:36 seconds, assisted by Max Newton. The final shots on goal for the game were 41 for the Royals and 34 for Maine, with a final score of 5-3 to make the series 2-0 for Reading. The three stars of the game were Jacob Wilson at third, Jacob Gaucher at second, and Evan Barratt at number one star. With the home games finished, the Royals will now face the Mariners in Portland for a three-game series this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, where the Royals have a chance to take the series with just two more wins.