Reading struck first minutes into the opening period on Kevin Conley’s first professional goal in his professional debut. Patrick McNally hit Jacob Pritchard on a blue-line to blue-line pass that began a rush for the Royals in the offensive zone. Pritchard centered the puck to Thomas Ebbing who gave a backhand feed to Conley crashing in on Adirondack’s net. The rookie delivered a one-timer past Sakellaropoulos to put Reading on the board early, 1-0.
The Royals extended their lead to three with goals from Patrick Bajkov and Mason Millman. Bajkov scored first of two goals in the game with a wrist shot snapped top shelf off of a face off win by Trevor Gooch. Brayden Low and Conley earned the helpers on Millman’s seventh goal of the season with a crisp set of passing that the rookie defenseman finished off on a shot that beat Sakellaropoulos low glove side.
Adirondack responded back with a pair of goals to cut the deficit to one goal. Shane Harper scored on a shorthanded breakaway on Reading’s second power play of the game and Luke Stevens tapped in a puck that trickled out of a scrum in Flodell’s crease to make it a one-goal game a minute into the third period, 3-2.
8:14 into the final period of regulation, Patrick Bajkov put Reading back ahead by two goals. Bajkov scored his second goal of the game on the power play for his fifth multi-goal game of the season.
The Thunder pulled their netminder with four minutes remaining in regulation and scored with the extra attacker on for Grasso’s team leading 24th goal of the season. The Royals defense held Adirodack to one final shot on net in the final 2:04 to improve Reading’s point streak to five games. The magic number to clinch the North Divisional title is at eleven with six games remaining in Reading’s regular season.
The Royals host the Maine Mariners Friday, Apr. 8, at 7:00 p.m. at Santander Arena.
With Reading Royals release