READING, PA – The Reading Royals held off the Newfoundland Growlers four times, each after Newfoundland cut the Royals lead to one; ultimately, Steven Swavely’s goal was enough in a 5-4 Halloween win Thursday at Santander Arena.
Standing right door step, Swavely tucked the puck in after Frank DiChiara (1 goal, 2 assists) rifled a slot wrister off Maksim Zhukov (loss, 23 saves, 5 goals allowed). Swavely was also credited with his first career fighting major vs. James Melindy at 4:54 of the third.
The Royals are the first team to defeat the defending Kelly Cup champions twice this season.
Matty Gaudreau scored twice to tie a personal single-game high in goals. Felix Sandström blocked 25 shots for his second win of the season (4 goals allowed).
The Royals scored the first two goals of the game. At 6:12 of the first, DiChiara slammed home a rebound at net front off a shot off the Zhukov’s toe. Next, with 5:59 to go in the first, Gaudreau’s third of the season, assisted by Ralph Cuddemi, provided the Royals their first two-goal lead.
The Royals held two goals leads in every period and stymied the Growlers each time they cut Reading’s advantage to one. First, Scott Pooley struck for Newfoundland 54 seconds after Gaudreau’s first goal, dipping the Royals lead to 2-1.
Gaudreau capitalized off an Aaron Luchuk slot giveaway for his fourth of the season at 4:18 of the second. Luchuk rebounded for a power-play goal three minutes later.
At 7:56 of the third, Pascal Laberge scored his second of the season on a two-on-none, giving Reading a 4-2 edge. Corey Mackin dished a cross-crease pass after DiChiara snuck the puck over a defender. Next, Mackin grabbed and fed from the left circle to Laberge at the right goal line for a tuck-in strike. Newfoundland again got on the board three minutes later with Marcus Power’s second of the season to make it a 4-3 game.
Swavely’s follow-up strike with 3:33 to go was enough, despite a goal thirty seconds later from Luchuk.
Swavely and Hayden Hodgson earned the first two fighting majors of the Royals season a 1:54 span. First, Hodgson fought Matt Bradley at the Royals defensive line with 17 minutes to go. Two duels broke out a couple of minutes later; Mitchell attempted to stand up for Swavely at the Growlers right post, but was cut off by Brady Ferguson as Swavely and Melindy began to punch each other in the right corner. Mitchell was given a double minor for roughing at 4:54 of the third. Reading has a season-high 22 penalty minutes and stopped three of the four Newfoundland man-up chances. The Royals were 0-for-2 on the power play.
The Royals will celebrate D.C. Comics Night on Saturday, November 2nd against Norfolk at 7 p.m.; Batman and Joker will be at the game with character meet-and-greet packages, DC Comic-themed jerseys (Royals in Batman, Norfolk in Joker) and a DC Puck Giveaway.
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.