ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Newfoundland Growlers broke out the brooms Tuesday night sweeping the mid-week series against the Reading Royals in a 6-4 victory at Mile One Centre.
Joseph Duszak picked up right where he left off in last night’s game where he was the overtime hero and opened the scoring just 1:29 into the game after capitalizing on a 3-on-1 and beating Felix Sandstrom glove-side to give the Growlers an early 1-0 lead. Evan Neugold doubled the lead to 2-0 with 1:56 remaining in the opening period after his wrister deflected off a Royals player, and Brady Ferguson sniped a power play goal blocker-side with 57 seconds remaining in the first period sending the Growlers to the dressing room up 3-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Matt Bradley looked to extend the lead to 4-0 at the three-minute mark of the second period after beating Sandstrom cleanly, but the puck struck iron and bounced out. Ralph Cuddemi continued his dominating start to the season 4:22 into the middle frame to get Reading on the board after beating Maksim Zhukov for his 20th goal in 23 games and to cut the Growlers lead to 3-1.
Marcus Power re-stored the three-goal lead with 9:02 remaining in the second period after cleaning up a mess in the Royals crease and sliding it home for a 4-1 score, but Max Willman made good on a cross-ice feed and fired home a power-play goal at 14:30 for a 4-2 game.
Trevor Gooch cut the lead to one with 1:14 remaining in the second period after capitalizing on a turnover for a partial break that beat Zhukov for a 4-3 Growlers lead after 40 minutes of play.
Evan Neugold hit the empty net with 1:26 to play in the game for a 5-3 lead, and Eric Knodel brought the Royals to within one just 30 seconds later, but Giorgio Estephan hit another empty netter with 14 seconds left sealing the deal for a 6-4 final score.
Quick Hits: Grand Falls-Winsor native A.J. Whiffen was signed as an emergency backup prior to puck drop… Evan Neugold extended his point streak to six games… The three stars were 3 – F. DiChiara (REA), 2 – E. Neugold (NFL) and 1 – B. Ferguson (NFL)
What’s Next: The Newfoundland Growlers continue their four-game homestand Friday night against the Worcester Railers, ECHL affiliate of the New York Islanders on Batman night where the Growlers will wear special Batman themed jerseys. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Newfoundland time (5:30 p.m.Eastern time).
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