Reading Royals Fall to South Carolina Stingrays 3-1 - ECHL

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL (4-3-1-1=10, t-2nd East Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, fell to the South Carolina Stingrays, 3-1, at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Stingrays broke a scoreless tie late in the second period and never trailed, as South Carolina snapped a three game win streak for the Royals. Reading goaltender, Beau Erickson (loss, 2-1-0-0; 34/37) sustained his first loss of the year; while South Carolina’s Braden Holtby (2-1-1-0; 27/28) was solid in picking up his second win of the season. Reading was unable to break through on the power play (0-4); while the Stingrays got the game winner while playing with the man advantage (1-3).
 
Although the Stingrays came out strong and had the Royals on their heels in the early going, Reading turned things around in the latter stage of the first period and created a number of quality scoring chances. However, neither team was able to score in the first, and they went to their respective locker rooms after one in a scoreless tie. That’s the way things stayed until late in the second when South Carolina broke through after a grinding shift of cycling in the Royals’ defensive zone. Ultimately, Matt Scherer turned and wheeled off the left half wall and ripped the puck high short-side on Erickson for his third goal of the season with just 2:36 left in the second.
 
South Carolina got what proved to be the game winner thirteen seconds into their second power play chance of the game at the 5:19 mark of the third, when Michael Dubuc fed Zach Tarkir at the top of the left circle; and Tarkir blasted a hard, high one-timer for his first goal of the year. The Royals drew back within one 7:40 into the third, when a bad turnover by a South Carolina defender in front of the Stingrays’ net, gave Ben McLeod a clean opportunity to rip a high, hard snap shot by Holtby for his fifth goal of the year. The Stingrays, however, regained the two goal lead 12:26 into the third when Nikita Kashirsky fed Keith Johnson for a power rush down the right wing side. Johnson carried deep into the right circle and ripped a snap shot short-side under the bar for his fourth goal of the year. The Royals mustered significant come-back energy and effort down the stretch, but couldn’t overcome the strong defensive zone coverage put up by the Stingrays.

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