Reading, PA – The Worcester Railers HC (12-11-3-2, 29pts) lost in a close one against the Reading Royals (11-13-1-1, 23pts), on Saturday night by the final score of 4-3 in front of 3,233 fans at the Santander Arena. The Railers will face the Reading Royals again tomorrow at Santander Arena on Sunday, December 31st at 3:05 EST.
The game started right where they left off last night: physical. The Royals would do most of the heavy lifting in this department as they committed their 8th and 9th penalty of the weekend with a tripping minor penalty by Royals Forward Kenny Johnson (0-0-0) and a bench minor by Forward Tag Bertuzzi (1-0-1) committed while he was on the bench. The Railers offense would make them pay on the Bertuzzi minor penalty. Joey Cipollone entered the offensive zone with the puck in the middle of the ice where he found Zach White open on the right wing of their offensive zone. White quickly sent a cross-ice pass to an open Daylan Kuefler on the left side dot and sniped it past Royals goaltender Parker Gahagen’s blocker side. Bertuzzi came back the other way three minutes later for Reading and tied the game 1-1 going into the second period. The Railers led the period in shots on goal 13-11.
The Railers struggled to find many scoring chances in the second but relied on their defense and goaltending to get them through the period and deny the Royals from scoring. The Railers were disciplined and managed spacing well throughout the period until they would get a power play opportunity late in the second period. Towards the end of the power play, Copeland drove the puck past Gahagen in net for the Royals to put Worcester back ahead, 2-1. The Royals answered back not much later with a power play goal by Forward Shane Sellar to beat Fulcher and tie it 2-2. The Royals led shots on goal in the period, 12-5.
Reading grabbed their first lead of the night when Matt Brown shot one blocker side to beat Fulcher and make it a 3-2 game. Late in the third, the Railers got another power play and did a great job keeping the puck in the zone and battling down low. Jenkins quickly fired the puck past Gahagen’s low blocker side to tie the game up once again. Both sides would get chances on the net but nothing came out of it in the box score where this game would head into overtime. The Railers led the period in shots on goal, 14-13.
In overtime, the Royals worked their way down ice in a 2-on-1 3:18 into the frame with Brown and Bertuzzi to score and give the Royals the 4-3 win at home.
Notes:
First Star: Matt Brown (2-1-3)… John Copeland scores his first professional goal of his career… Anthony Repaci is now on a five-game point streak… Kaden Fulcher (0-5-0) starts his first game with the Worcester Railers. He made 34 saves on 38 shots faced (.894 SV%)… Royals goaltender Parker Gahagen (2-2-0) made 30 saves on 33 shots faced (.909 SV%)… Railers Head Coach and General Manager Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman coached his 100th game for the Railers.
