Royals road to the top about to get bumpy

READING, PA – If the Reading Royals want to know just how good they are in the ECHL the next few days will be just the measuring stick they need. The Royals, who have the Eastern Conferences second best record with 49 points heading into Thursday night’s action, will play all three of the top teams in the conference. The Royals started things off with a 7-4 loss to the Florida Everblades and will continue their three game series Friday night in Estero, Fl.
 Win the win the Everblades one of only three teams with 50 or more points. After the series against Florida, the Royals will take on the Greenville Road Warriors who lead the league with 52 points and will take on Reading in a two game series at home.   The Elmira Jackals are the Royals prime competition in the Atlantic Division only six points behind for the Division lead and will battle it out in Elmira. The Wheeling Nailers lead the North Division and will take on Reading to close out a tough stretch of games for the team.
Monday’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Trenton Devils marked the first shutout loss for the Royals this season. It was the ninth time this season that the Royals have played to a tie into overtime. Reading has a record of 6-3 in those games, but the team has lost the last three decisions in either overtime or the shootout. The Royals are currently riding a six game home unbeaten streak (4-0-1-1). Monday’s loss to Trenton was the first time this season that the Royals have not registered a win when they’ve holding the opposition to two goals or less. Reading is 14-0-0-1 in such games.
 
The Royals are currently without three of their top four scorers: Matt Caruana, Ryan Cruthers, and Andrew Sarauer. The Royals are also without two of their goaltenders, rookie Ben Scrivens and Matt Dalton who are currently on call ups assignments.
Reading’s power play unit is still struggling ranked 12^th at 15.9 percent while their PK unit is still has 14th in the league allowed 37 goals against in 185 chances, an 81.1% kill ratio which is a slight improvement from a month ago.
 
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
Contact the author at Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com