READING, PA – The Reading Royals (4-3-0-0, 8 points) of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, defeated the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (3-6-0-0, 6 points), affiliate of the New York Rangers of the NHL, 5-1, at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Despite facing a season-high thirty-one shots against, Reading goaltender Connor Knapp put on an exhibition against his former team in Greenville, giving his current teammates enough time to put together a four goal second period explosion and pull away from the Swamp Rabbits, who have lost five in a row. Reading got five goals from five different players including mirror image power play goals from Adam Comrie and Robbie Czarnik in the second frame to win the team’s first game ever against the Swamp Rabbits. Knapp made any number of big saves, which included rejecting a series of Grade-A chances for Greenville when the game was still scoreless in the first period.
Reading got out of the gates quickly, but the Swamp Rabbits regained their footing in relative short order and created the bulk of the first period scoring chances. But it was the Royals who broke through first, 14:27 into the opening frame, when defenseman Kevin Young sent a seemingly harmless floater from the right point that forward Joe Crandall redirected in a downward direction behind the hapless Greenville goaltender, Allen York.
Six minutes into the second, the Royals got what proved to be the game winner when defenseman Maxim Lamarche fired a wrist pass from the top of the right circle that Mike Pereira, who was floating across the top of the crease, re-directed behind York for his third of the year.
Reading hit pay-dirt on the team’s first power play chance of the night, when Young put one on a tee at the top of the right circle for left-shooting Adam Comrie, who uncorked a one-time weak-side rocket that bulleted by everyone including York for Comrie’s fifth of the year—and his twenty-ninth career goal as a Royal, making him the all-time team leader in career goals by a defenseman. 2:29 after that, however, the resilient Swamp Rabbits broke through to make it 3-1 when defenseman Sean Escobedo fired a shot from the right point that snuck through a mass of humanity in front of the Royals’ net. Knapp stopped that original bid, but Brian Hart was on the door-step for a quick put-back to record his fourth goal of the year.
Undaunted, the Royals rebuilt the three goal advantage sixteen seconds later, when Matt Hatch took a drop feed from Joe Rehkamp, carried into the offensive zone and snapped a hot rivet between two Greenville defenders—and then through York—for Hatch’s first of the year.
Late in the second Reading capped the scoring with a five-on-three power play goal by Rob Czarnik, who ripped a weak-side one-timer—from a right shot on the left side this time—to make it 5-1 with his third of the year.
Greenville did not go quietly into the night, out-shooting Reading 9-5 in the third period, but the Royals—and particularly Knapp—held strong to record the team’s second victory of the year on home ice.
The Royals and Swamp Rabbits go at it again Sunday afternoon at 5 pm at Santander Arena in Reading.
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