South Carolina Stingrays Fall 5-4 to Reading Royals - ECHL

Reading, PA –The South Carolina Stingrays (6-2-1-2) erased two one-goal deficits but fell short 5-4 in the shootout against the Reading Royals (5-3-1-1) Sunday night in front of 3,844 at Sovereign Center. The Stingrays earned five of a possible six points completing three games in three nights.
 
The Royals struck first at 5:32 of the opening period as Scott Langdon buried a rebound past Stingrays goaltender Braden Holtby. Ryan Cruthers and Ben Gordon earned the assists. Stingrays forward Matt Scherer tied the game at one at 11:04 with a laser from the top of the left-wing circle beating Reading rookie goaltender Andrew Engelage. Rob Ricci recorded the lone assist. The Stingrays grabbed to a 2-1 lead at 12:51 as Nikita Kashirsky lit the lamp for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Rookie Dain Prewitt picked up the assist.
 
South Carolina continued their strong offence into the second period with a goal from defenseman Dylan Yeo at 1:18 from Kashirsky. Yeo, who was serving a carry-over penalty from the first period bolted from the box and received a pass from Kashirsky down the right-wing boards and converted on the breakaway. The Royals answered back with a power-play goal at 7:10 from Ryan Cruthers. Winger Daniel Steiner and Ben McLeod received assists. Royals defenseman Jared Ross tied the game at three 30 seconds later at 7:40 from Ben McLeod. The teams skated to a 3-3 draw at the end of 40 minutes.
 
Reading regained a one-goal lead at 10:35 of the third with a power-play goal from Ross. Cruthers and Steiner tallied the assists. The Royals finished the game 2-for-8 on the man advantage. Stingrays forward Rob Ricci scored with 1:30 left in the game to send the game into overtime in a 4-4 tie. South Carolina ended the game 0-for-2 on the power play.
 
South Carolina fired four shots on Engalage in the extra session while Reading generated two, but neither side could find the back of the net. Stingrays forwards Michael Dubuc and Matt Fornataro scored in the shootout, but Reading forwards Danick Bouchard and Ben Gordon tied the session at two. In the final round, Stingrays forward Keith Johnson rang the iron and Steiner beat Holtby low glove-side to give the Royals a 5-4 victory. Engelage earned his first professional win stopping 23 of 27 Stingrays shots while Holtby was saddled with the loss knocking aside 35 of 39 Stingrays opportunities.  The Stingrays earned five of a possible six points completing three games in three nights.
 
The Royals struck first at 5:32 of the opening period as Scott Langdon buried a rebound past Stingrays goaltender Braden Holtby. Ryan Cruthers and Ben Gordon earned the assists. Stingrays forward Matt Scherer tied the game at one at 11:04 with a laser from the top of the left-wing circle beating Reading rookie goaltender Andrew Engelage. Rob Ricci recorded the lone assist. The Stingrays grabbed to a 2-1 lead at 12:51 as Nikita Kashirsky lit the lamp for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Rookie Dain Prewitt picked up the assist.
 
South Carolina continued their strong offence into the second period with a goal from defenseman Dylan Yeo at 1:18 from Kashirsky. Yeo, who was serving a carry-over penalty from the first period bolted from the box and received a pass from Kashirsky down the right-wing boards and converted on the breakaway. The Royals answered back with a power-play goal at 7:10 from Ryan Cruthers. Winger Daniel Steiner and Ben McLeod received assists. Royals defenseman Jared Ross tied the game at three 30 seconds later at 7:40 from Ben McLeod. The teams skated to a 3-3 draw at the end of 40 minutes.
 
Reading regained a one-goal lead at 10:35 of the third with a power-play goal from Ross. Cruthers and Steiner tallied the assists. The Royals finished the game 2-for-8 on the man advantage. Stingrays forward Rob Ricci scored with 1:30 left in the game to send the game into overtime in a 4-4 tie. South Carolina ended the game 0-for-2 on the power play.
 
South Carolina fired four shots on Engalage in the extra session while Reading generated two, but neither side could find the back of the net. Stingrays forwards Michael Dubuc and Matt Fornataro scored in the shootout, but Reading forwards Danick Bouchard and Ben Gordon tied the session at two. In the final round, Stingrays forward Keith Johnson rang the iron and Steiner beat Holtby low glove-side to give the Royals a 5-4 victory. Engelage earned his first professional win stopping 23 of 27 Stingrays shots while Holtby was saddled with the loss knocking aside 35 of 39 Stingrays opportunities.

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