READING, PA – The Reading Royals (14-8-4-0, 32 points) rattled off four straight goals to overcome a one-goal deficit in the second and defeat the Brampton Beast (15-9-1-0, 31 points), 5-2, Friday at Santander Arena. The win propels the Royals past the Beast for second place in the North Division.
The Royals scored two goals 30 seconds apart midway through the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Max Willman found himself alone and deked out DeBeau on the doorstep before sliding the puck past his outreached glove. On the next shift, Marly Quince scored his first ECHL goal after swatting home a deep-slot shot from Jeremy Beaudry.
Garrett Mitchell scored the opening goal with 7:44 remaining in the first period on the power play. Corey Mackin found Mitchell in the slot, and the Royals’ captain beat goaltender Alex DeBeau (loss, 5 goals against, 33 saves) glove-side.
Brampton got off to a fast start in the second period with David Vallorani and Erik Bradford scoring 1:16 apart to give the Beast a 2-1 lead. Vallorani scored with a top-left circle snap shot while on the man-advantage, and Bradford beat Kirill Ustimenko (win, 2 goals against, 22 saves) on the weak side coming down the left-wing.
Following a two-goal outburst that gave Reading the lead back, the Royals iced the cake with two insurance goals in the third period courtesy of Trevor Gooch’s third goal of the season and Willman’s second of the night.
Breaking the Ice: The Royals scored first against the Beast for the first time this season. Brampton had previously scored first in its 5-3 and 2-1 victories in the first two matchups on December 7th and 8th.
With the 5-2 win, Reading moved to 12-1-3-0 when scoring first. Reading is 10-0-0-0 when opening the scoring at home. This is the fourth come-from-behind win for the Royals this season and first since November 15th in a 4-1 win against Adirondack.
Marly and Me Goals: Quince recorded his first career goal in the ECHL on his fifth ‘double A’ shot. The goal came with less than five minutes left in the second period. Quince recorded his first ECHL point with an assist against Toledo on November 28th.
He played nine games for the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL) and recorded nine goals and four assists before signing with the Royals on November 21st. He graduated from Clarkson University earlier this year and recorded 10 points (3 goals) in 34 games in his senior season as an alternate captain where he also won the ECAC Championship.
Special delivery from Max: Max Willman scored the game-tying goal and added insurance to put his goal total to five on the season. The former Buffalo Sabres fifth-round selection has received more ice time since the middle of November and has become a point-per-game player with 14 points through 14 games. Willman split his collegiate career between Brown and Boston University.
He recorded 11 goals and 15 assists in 31 games during his best collegiate season (2016-17) for Brown.
The Royals and Beast end their four-game series tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Santander Arena for Affiliation Night presented by The Works. The Royals will don Orange jerseys to celebrate their affiliation with the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms with Gritty in attendance for Teddy Bear Toss night. The first 1,500 fans will receive a plush bear from Artistic Toys.
The Royals end their weekend with an away game at the Worcester Railers Sunday at 3:05 p.m.
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