MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com- READING, PA – The Florida Everblades (12-2-1) remained on a roll as they notched their 10^th straight win overall, and behind the goaltending of David Leggio, their third consecutive shutout after knocking off the Reading Royals 4-0 on Friday night at the Sovereign Center in front of a crowd of 5,012.

The shutout was Leggio’s second of the season and the team’s fifth of the year as the Everblades remained unbeaten on the road this season with a 6-0-1 mark. Florida hasn’t allowed a goal in over 10 periods of play dating back to the second period on November 21 at Augusta. The Royals meanwhile dropped their third straight game, and were shutout for the second consecutive contest.

After a scoreless first period that was territorially dominated by the Everblades as they out shot Reading 15-9, the Everblades got their offense rolling the second period, scoring three times.

Although the Royals came out strong at the start of the second period, the Everblades were the first to crack the scoreboard when Ernie Hartlieb fed a perfect pass from his own blueline to Jacob Micflikier at the offensive line. Micflikier took the pass and raced in untouched on Royals goaltender Danny Taylor before lifting a backhand shot past him for a 1-0 Florida lead at 3:04.
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The Everblades extended their lead to 2-0 with a power play marker by Kevin Baker. With the Everblades pressuring the in the zone a loose puck behind the net was collected by the Royals. The clearing attempt deflected off a skate to the left side of the crease where Baker slammed home his 13^th goal of the year unassisted at 11:54.

The second period scoring was capped off with Doug O’Brien’s first goal of the season at 14:54. At the conclusion of O’Brien’s penalty, Michael Grenzy chipped the puck off the glass out to center ice where O’Brien raced onto it from the penalty box, then split two Reading defenders before slipping the puck past Taylor inside the left post for a 3-0 lead after two periods.

Florida tacked on some insurance in the third period late when Yannick Tifu tallied his third goal of the season and the Everblades’ second power play goal of the night at 13:25. Tifu initiated the play by carrying the puck into the zone down the left boards. After his centering pass tipped off the stick of Taylor, Baker swatted at the loose puck, which got blocked to Micflikier in the slot. Micflikier’s chance was also blocked, rolling into the right circle where Tifu snapped home a shot over the sprawling Taylor.

Leggio improved to 5-1-1 on the season after stopping all 21 shots he faced, while Taylor dropped to 3-11-1 after allowing the four goals on 40 shots.

On the power play, the Everblades finished out the night 2-of-9 while Reading closed out the game 0-of-6.

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