PHN’s Best Shots of the Game: Royals edge Walleye in shootout

READING, PA – The Reading Royals (23-18-2-0) defeated the Toledo Walleye (25-12-3-1) 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday at Santander Arena. John Muse improved to 9-1-0 in the last 10 games since his return to the Royals roster, stopping 32 shots in the victory. Michael Huntebrinker had the only goal in the shootout.

The Royals jumped to a 3-0 lead and maintained a two-goal advantage heading into the third period. In the final minute of regulation time the Walleye scored twice, forcing the contest into overtime. Reading swept the season series 2-0 against Toledo.

Rookie James de Haas has 13 points (3 goal, 10 assist) in 16 games and had two points (1 goal, 1 assist) in Wednesday’s matchup. The defenseman ripped a slap shot from the left-side blue line and beat netminder Pat Nagle, posting the first goal in the game at 18:23 of the opening frame. Michael Huntebrinker and Matt Wilkins (1 goal, 1 assist) were awarded the helpers as Wilkins continued a four-game point streak.

The Royals maintained the momentum moving into the middle frame as Nick Luukko tricked Nagle glove side through traffic with the help of a screen by Huntebrinker at 6:48. de Hass recorded his second point of the contest recording an assist along with Matt Willows who put up his twenty-fourth helper of the season.

Wilkins added to the lead on a power-play goal 11:19 into the second period. He deflected a puck that was sent in the crease by Willows from behind the net. Adam Schmidt contributed for his first point since his return from injury.

Davis Vandane put the Walleye on the board 1:54 later with a glove-side snipe past Muse. Austen Brassard and Ryan Obuchowski each got a point on the goal.

Toledo put up two quick goals within the final 58 seconds of regulation time. Brassard scored first with the extra attacker and assists came from Connor Crisp and Simon Denis. Forty-eight seconds later, Mike Borkowski found the rebound from Brassard’s shot to tie the game at 3-3 with 10.2 seconds left.

An extra session wasn’t enough to decide a winner and a shootout was in order. Huntebrinker was up first and beat Nagle on the left post. Muse stopped all three Toledo shooters to pick up two points in the 4-3 shootout win.

The Royals were outshot, 35-33, but went 1-for-2 on the power play and remained perfect on both of Toledo’s man advantages.

The Royals are on the road to begin a six-game road trip Friday, January 26th against Wheeling at 7:05 p.m.