PORTLAND, ME – Up by one with 15 seconds left, Reading Royals goaltender Tom McCollum sprawled and made a glove save at the right post on Maine Mariners forward Connor Bleackley, his final save in a 2-1 victory Friday at Cross Insurance Arena. McCollum (28 saves) has won four straight games for Reading and the Royals can clinch a playoff berth Saturday at Worcester with a victory and Adirondack loss. The Royals (76 points) are nine points in front of Maine and Brampton for 2nd place in the North.
The save by McCollum came after the Mariners cut it to a one-goal advantage in the final half of the third. The Royals led by two earlier in the frame. Reading improved to 28-0-4-1 when leading after two periods.
Steven Swavely (Power Play Goal) opened the scoring on Reading’s fifth shot of the game. Corey Mackin and Eric Knodel assisted. Reading has seven man-up goals in eight games this campaign against Maine. McCollum denied 12 shots in the second period and the Royals held the 1-0 edge into the third.
At 4-on-4 in the third, Laberge used the open ice to his advantage to create a one-on-one to the left circle. He sniped it long post above the pad of Brassard to give Reading a 2-0 advantage at 3:23. McCollum stopped his first 25 shots before yielding to Michael McNicholas with nine minutes to go, making it 2-1 Royals.
Francois Brassard blocked 22 shots in defeat.
30 a hot commodity: Steven Swavely’s 12th goal of the season gave him 33 points this campaign. Reading has five players with at least 30 points this season; Frank DiChiara, Corey Mackin, Eric Knodel and Brayden Low are the others.
On Reading’s first goal, Swavely drove to the slot after a pass from Mackin sprung him. He picked his spot and beat Brassard over the blocker on Reading’s first man-up shot. Knodel and Mackin assisted. Mackin and Frank DiChiara have both hit the 20-goal threshold, the active Royals leaders.
Swavely has scored at least 12 goals in each of his four ECHL seasons.
Reading completes its road trip on Saturday, March 7th at Worcester with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. The next home game is Sunday, March 8th vs. Brampton at 4 p.m. for First Responders Night, presented by Met-Ed.
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