READING, PA – The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (31-20-4-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers and the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, scored four unanswered goals on Sunday to tame the Reading Royals (31-20-1-2) 6-3 at Santander Arena. Greenville won three of four games to begin a six-game road trip. The win earned the Swamp Rabbits a season sweep of the North Division through seven games, including four against Reading.
Allan McPherson and Michael Joly added to a successful season against Reading’s power play during the first period. Joly was denied on a breakaway, but the Swamp Rabbits combination did not bail out on the chance. Joly sent a pass from the left corner to McPherson for a shorthanded goal and second tally in as many games.
Greenville’s penalty kill scored three goals against the Royals this season including two by Bretton Cameron earlier this season. Coincidentally, those are the only three shorthanded tallies surrendered by the Royals, who are atop the league with the least goals against when on the power play.
The Swamp Rabbits surrendered one goal to the Royals at the start of the second period but caused a turnover to retake the lead in the see-saw affair. Andrew Dommett forced the loose puck off the boards to the front of the net where Trevor Gerling also netted his second goal in as many games.
Reading took offense to the goal from Greenville and took the first lead of the contest on two quick tallies. Mike Marcou fired a shot into the net at 8:28 as the puck came out to the blue line. His second of the season tied the game and was followed up on a power play goal by Mike Pereira who broke past the defense for a breakaway less than two minutes later. Reading finished the game 1-for-5 on the power play.
Penalties would come back to bite the Royals late in the second period. Spiro Goulakos let a cannonading shot go from the blue line to score his 14th of the season and team leading seventh on the power play. Derik Johnson was then called for a game misconduct resulting in another power play after the goal. Less than a minute later, Brandon Alderson ripped a second power play goal on a one timer. Alderson, Goulakos, and Angelo Miceli all combined on the goals as each earned mulit-point games.
Through two periods of the contest, goaltender Mackenzie Skapski earned 36 saves for the Swamp Rabbits in a bounce back performance. In his best career performance, the third year pro made 49 saves on 52 shots. The Abbotsford, BC native shut out the Royals in the final period and earned the number one star.
In the third period, the Swamp Rabbits tacked on two more goals to ice the game against the Royals. Ahti Oksanen netted his 15th tally of the year from the right corner on a pass from Goulakos. The rookie fired the one timer to score Greenville’s fifth goal of the game and help Goulakos to his third point of the night. Goulakos performance ties a career best effort.
Alderson capped off a three-point night with less than three minutes to play in the evening. His team leading 18th goal of the year came on the power play again, giving him eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in four games against his former team. The rip from the left circle also capped a 3-for-7 night for the Swamp Rabbits on the power play.
Royals goaltender Martin Ouellette was in net for all six goals, as the Swamp Rabbits handed him the loss. The netminder made 21 saves on 27 Greenville shots while Skapski took his 15th win of the year.
Greenville will continue its road trip by playing two games in Orlando on Thursday and Saturday nights. The Swamp Rabbits are in second place above the Solar Bears and own a 6-4-1-0 record against their South Division rival.
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