Elmira, NY – The Reading Royals of the ECHL (17-10-1-2=37, 1st East Division), affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, were defeated by the Elmira Jackals, 6-3, at First Arena in Elmira, New York. The loss, which marked the first time this season that Reading lost in regulation after scoring the game’s first goal (10-1-1-2), snapped a four game win streak for the Royals. Goaltender Matt Dalton (Loss, 9-5-0-1; 35/41), sustained his first loss in the month of December (6-1-0-1). Elmira’s Chris Holt (Win, 6-3-0-1; 29/32) picked up the win in his first career start against the Royals. For the second straight game against Elmira, the Royals’ power play was kept off the board (0-4). The Jackals got their first and last goals while playing with the man advantage (2-4).
 
Reading struck 4:58 into the game when a relentless fore-check created a turnover in the offensive end. Ryan Cruthers ended up with the puck in the left circle and slid a perfect pass to the right side of the crease, where a waiting Ben Gordon re-directed it in for his sixteenth of year. Elmira bounced back to tie with a power play goal at the 17:47 mark of the first. Mat Robinson fired a shot from the top of the left circle that deflected off a sliding Reading defender and ended up in the net high short side for his third goal of the year.
 
The Jackals took the lead 11:02 into the second when Yanick Tifu slipped a perfect saucer down the slot through a couple of Royals’ defenders to a waiting Mike Sgroi, who fired it home for his first goal of the year—in his first game this season with Elmira. The Jackals took a 3-1 lead 31 seconds into the third, when Joe Grimaldi threw a wrister from the right point that slid through traffic out front and into the net for Grimaldi’s first of the year. 2:31 later, the Jackals took a three goal lead when Brendan Connolly settled with his glove through the neutral zone, carried deep into the left circle, and ripped a snap shot high, short-side for his second of the season.
 
The Royals got a glimmer of hope, drawing within two (4-2) at the 4:23 mark of the third on another tic-tac-toe passing play between Cruthers, Gordon and Olivier Labelle. Cruthers fed Gordon in the right circle, and Gordon slipped a tap-pass into the slot for Labelle, who deflected the puck between his legs as he was backing toward the net for his sixth of the season. However, 24 seconds later, Elmira regained the three goal lead when Justin Donati stuffed the puck in after a long multi-player scrum on the Royals’ goal line. The Jackals took a four goal lead with a power play goal at the 12:11 mark of the third. Tyler Donati worked the puck up the wall to the right point where Wes Cunnigham was waiting. Cunningham slid the puck to the high slot where Jarrett Konkle unleashed a one-time rocket for his fifth of the year. Reading got a late goal from Gavin Morgan (with 17.8 seconds left in regulation) but that was too little, too late for the Royals, who dropped to 9-7-1-1 on the road.
 
The Royals travel to Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey tomorrow (Sunday, December 27, 2009 @ 5:00 pm) to take on the Trenton Devils for the seventh time this season. Reading’s game night broadcast on Sunday on the Royals Radio Network presented by Transmissions by Arbogast will kick off at 4:30 pm.

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