Royals salvage point in OT loss

PORTLAND, ME – Down by one in the final minute, Hayden Hodgson redirected a shot from Eric Knodel to tie the game at three with 29 seconds left, but the Maine Mariners’ Alex Kile scored a power-play goal at :23 of overtime and Maine skated to a 4-3 win Monday at Cross Insurance Arena. The Royals outshot the Mariners, 39-30. Reading remains in first place (7-4-2-0, 16 points).

Corey Mackin scored for the second straight game to give the Royals a 2-1 advantage at the end of first. The edge held until the third, when Terrance Wallin and Dillan Fox tallied consecutively to put Maine in front by a goal at 13:08.

On the tying play, the Royals pulled Kirill Ustimenko (OTL, 26 saves, 4 goals against) and settled at the right corner. Matthew Gaudreau (2 assists) fed to Knodel, who shot it from the right-wing blue line. Hodgson put his stick on the ice at the slot and it tipped through Connor LaCouvee’s legs (win, 36 saves, 3 goals allowed).

The Royals tallied the game’s opening goal for the ninth time in 13 games; Jacob Graves’ right-point bomb beat LaCouvee far post at 6:31. Under Kirk MacDonald two seasons ago, the Royals scored the game’s first goal a league-best 46 times.

Reading has scored first in seven of the last eight games.

With Mackin’s go-ahead goal late in the first, the Royals have scored multiple goals in the first four times (twice vs. Maine).

With the Royals up by a goal entering the second, Ustimenko made 11 saves to keep Reading ahead by one. The 20-year-old denied most of the shots in the final half of the period; with 10 minutes left in the second, Maine had eight total in the game.

Ustimenko earned his first career win vs. the Mariners Oct. 20.

Wallin tallied the Mariners’ first two goals and struck at :26 of the third to tie the game at two. Fox sped over the Royals line and Wallin slammed home a rebound at the top of the crease. After Fox’s go-ahead goal and the Royals’ tying marker, Jacob Graves took a cross-checking minor at 20:00 of the third that allowed the Mariners to go to the man up to begin the extra session. Standing at the right circle, Kile one-timed a cross-dot feed from Greg Chase to win the game.

Up Next: Reading is at Worcester at 10:05 a.m. on Wednesday. The next Royals home game is Saturday, November 16th vs. Wheeling at 7 p.m., where the Royals will honor veterans in their Veterans Day contest.

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