WHEELING, WV – Reading Royals forward Michael Huntebrinker blasted his team-leading 14th goal at :28 of overtime to secure a 2-1 victory over the Wheeling Nailers Friday at Wesbanco Arena.
Matt Willows (1 assist) came across the Nailers line on the left wing. He slowed at the left circle and fed Huntebrinker for a slot slap shot. James de Haas garnered the secondary assist.
John Muse made 36 saves and the final 16 of the game. He is 10-1-0-0 since returning from Lehigh Valley. Wheeling’s Reid Gardiner tied the game in the last half of the second period. Adam Schmidt scored Reading’s first goal, his first since returning from a ten-game injury absence.
The Royals have 50 points, two behind Wheeling for second in the North Division.
Schmidt buried his seventh of the season and first since returning from injury 80 seconds into the opening frame to provide Reading a 1-0 advantage. The Royals created net-front traffic and Schmidt wristed it through traffic. It slipped through Morrison. Nolan Zajac and Brian Morgan assisted. Reading has scored the opening goal 29 times this season, most of any ECHL team.
Muse made 12 saves in the first. Wheeling failed to score on 1:32 of a 5-on-3 man advantage.
The Nailers had their first 20 shots denied before a goal from Gardiner evened the game with 6:57 left in the second. Muse made an initial stop and scrambled towards the right post but could not beat Gardiner to the spot. The shot was originally ruled a “no goal”, but a review reversed the call and tied the game.
Huntebrinker’s OT strike gives Reading a 5-2-0-0 record in the extra session this season. Wheeling’s top-ranked power play was 0-for-2 against Reading. The Royals had one chance and failed to score.
Reading plays the second game of the six-game road trip Sunday at 2 p.m. against Brampton.
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