On Wednesday night, the Reading Royals (1-0) opened the 2021 ECHL Playoffs with a 3-2 win over the Maine Mariners (0-1) in game one at the Santander Arena.
In the first period, Reading forward Kenny Hausinger (1) scored a power-play goal at 13:06, putting the Royals up 1-0. Patrick Bajkov and Patrick McNally assisted his goal.
In the second period, the Royals extended their lead 2-0 by Brayden Low (1) at 10:31 with assists from Frank DiChiara and Brad Morrison. Then at 19:10, Brayden Low (2) scored his second goal making it 3-0 with assists from Frank DiChiara and Jacob Pritchard.
In the third period, the Mariners came back. At 17:20, Maine defenseman Zach Malatesta (1) cut the Royals lead 3-1 with assists from Pascal Laberge and Cameron Askew. Then, with 45-seconds left, the Mariners made it a one-goal deficit 3-2 by Nick Master (1) with an assist from Zach Malatesta. The Royals held on to a 3-2 win.
Reading finished the night with 36 shots, 1/3 on the power-play, and Logan Flodell made 28 of 30 saves.
The Royals and Mariners play game two from the Santander Arena on Friday at 7 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased thanks to our friends at StubHub.
