BRAMPTON, ONT – In what has become a signature playoff defensive struggle, the Brampton Beast once again parlayed opportunistic scoring and the goaltending of Zach Fucale into a 2-1 victory over the Reading Royals Tuesday night at the Powerade Centre.
With its second consecutive one-goal win, Brampton now leads the best-of-seven North division semi-final series two games to one with game four set for Thursday night in Brampton.
Chris Auger and David Vallorani staked the host Beast to a two-goal margin in the first period, scoring 2:32 apart on Royals netminder Mark Dekanich. Matt Willows scored his first goal of the series with 4:45 left in the second period to get Reading back into the contest, setting the stage for a battle of the goalies in the third.
Fucale finished the game with 25 saves to earn his second career playoff victory. Dekanich was valiant in defeat, turning away 30 of the 32 Brampton shots he faced.
Game five of the series will also be played in Brampton on Saturday.
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