Royals come back to spoil Newfoundland home opener

ST.JOHN’S, NL – Brayden Low and Pascal Laberge scored ten seconds apart in the third period, helping the Reading Royals overcome a one-goal third-period deficit to wave off the Newfoundland Growlers, 6-5, in the 2019-20 season opener Friday at Mile One Centre. Low scored net front on a pass from Garrett Mitchell (2 assists). Off the ensuing face-off, Pascal Laberge found a misfired, ricocheted pass at the slot and buried it top-right corner at 8:34 of the third. Felix Sandström blocked 11 shots in a perfect third period and finished with 25 saves. Maxsim Zhukov took the loss with 18 saves (6 goals allowed).

In addition to the one-goal comeback, the Royals also engineered a four-goal run after falling behind, 3-0, in the first. Steven Swavely (2 assists) finished with a multi-point game in addition to Ralph Cuddemi (2 goals) and Mitchell.

Down by three with fewer than eight minutes remaining in the first, the Royals notched three straight goals to even the score on their next four shots. First, Garret Cockerill sniped it from the top of the left dot with 4:26 left, assisted by Rob Michel and captain Mitchell. Next, with 3:04 left, Cuddemi scored on a shot that fooled Zhukov from the top of the right circle. To finish the run, with 45 seconds left in the first, Frank DiChiara sniped it and scored through Zhukov from the right circle.

The Royals then came back with goals on consecutive shots in the final 12 minutes of the third with strikes from Brayden Low and Laberge.

With 11 saves in the third period, Sandström battled back to move to 1-0-0-0 after giving up five goals on his first 20 shots faced. That included goals on three straight shots on the first period, which allowed Zach O’Brien (2 goals) and Newfoundland to take a 3-0 lead.

Sandström was drafted 70th overall by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. This is his first season in North America.

Cuddemi potted a pair of goals, the Royals 2nd (16:56 of 1st period) and 4th (3:10 of 2nd), both of which provided key strikes at different times. The first goal gave the Royals two tallies in a span of 1:21, which made the score 3-2 and prevented Newfoundland from adding more insurance. Next, Cuddemi gave the Royals his first lead with a snipe from inside the left circle on a 2-on-1. He scored 22 times for Wichita last season.

He also scored in the Royals first preseason game a week ago vs. Adirondack.

The two teams will meet again Saturday night in St. John’s. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Newfoundland time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time).