WORCESTER, MA – Down by one entering the second period, the Reading Royals scored four times in the middle frame to come from behind and clinch a berth in the 2020 Kelly Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 win at the Worcester Railers Saturday at DCU Center.
Reading has qualified for the playoffs in ten of the last 11 seasons and 14 times in the club’s 19-season history. The Royals have 78 points, five back of first-place Newfoundland.
Felix Sandström denied 22 shots to improve to 12-11-0-1 on the season. Evan Buitenhuis was tagged with the loss (23 saves).
Railers forward Shane Walsh opened the game with an unassisted goal on a turnover forced at the right doorstep at 10:04. Reading trailed by one after one.
From there, Reading responded earlier and often in the second, scoring thrice in a five-minute span. Thomas Ebbing tied the game with a top-shelf laser beam at the slot at 2:48, assisted by David Drake. Seventy-five seconds later, Frank DiChiara scored his team-leading 22nd of the campaign on a power-play wrister from the right circle, set up by Eric Knodel and Corey Mackin. Brayden Low (7:53) and Trevor Gooch (16:39) rounded out the scoring for Reading.
Rob Michel potted an empty-net goal with 2:28 to go eight minutes after Lincoln Griffin cut it to a 4-2 game.
Low on the power play: Low scored his 18th goal of the season eight minutes into the middle frame, providing the Royals a 3-1 lead on a tucked-in backhander. It was his first man-up goal of the season and the second power-play marker of his Reading tenure. He has scored 33 goals with the Royals in two seasons.
The strike was one of four in the middle frame; over the last two months, Reading has scored 47 goals and allowed nine in the second period. In five of those games, Reading has at least four goals in the second. Three of those have come against Worcester.
Six-game point streak: The Royals are 5-0-0-1 in their last six games and finished a season-long, five-game road trip with a 4-0-0-1 mark.
Reading has outscored foes, 28-12, in the six games.
Season-series turnaround: Reading started the season series with Worcester at a 1-4-0-0 record, but the Royals have gone 6-0-1-0 in their last seven games to improve to 7-4-1-0 in the series.
Reading is back home on Sunday, March 8th vs. Brampton at 4 p.m. for First Responders Night, presented by Met-Ed. Doors open at noon for the 15th annual Battle of the Badges Game; the Reading Fire and Police Departments face off against the Allentown squads at 12:30 p.m. as the undercard to the 4 p.m. game against the Beast.
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