The Reading Royals (33-20-4) wrapped up a three-game road trip at the Mary Brown’s Centre on Sunday afternoon against the Newfoundland Growlers (39-17-2). It was the eighth meeting of the season with Newfoundland leading the season series 4-3.
Thirteen minutes and fifty seconds into the first period, the Growlers took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Simon Kubicek (4). Pavel Gogolev and Nolan Walker assisted with his goal. The Growlers led 1-0 after one period and the Royals had eight shots on goal.
Five minutes and forty-two seconds into the second period, the Royals tied the game 1-1 on a goal by Garrett McFadden (6). Charlie Gerard assisted with his goal. Later in the period, Todd Skirving (29) put the Growlers up 2-1 with assists from Michael Joyaux and Zach O’Brien.
Fourteen minutes and forty seconds in the second period, Max Newton (25) tied the game 2-2 for the Royals. Fifty-eight seconds later, Derian Plouffe (7) put the Growlers back up 3-2 with assists from Michael Joyaux and Todd Skirving. The Growlers led 3-2 after two periods and the Royals had 13 shots on goal.
Five minutes and fifteen seconds into the third period, Will MacKinnon (6) tied the game for the Royals. It was 3-3 with an assist by Colin Felix. Five minutes and nine seconds later, the Royals took a 4-3 on a goal by Brett Boeing (4) with an assist from Devon Paliani.
Four minutes and twenty seconds later, the Growlers tied the game 4-4 by Pavel Gogolev (22) on the power play. Zach O’Brien and Brett Budgell assisted with his goal. The game remained tied 4-4 heading to overtime.
A minute and eleven seconds into overtime, Pavel Gogolev (23) scored a power play goal to give the Growlers a 5-4 win. Zach O’Brien and Michael Joyaux assisted with his goal. The loss snaps the Royals’ two-game winning streak and are now 5-4-1 in their last ten games.
The Royals finished the afternoon with 35 shots, 0-4 on the power play, and Ryan Kenny made 26 saves. On the other side, the Growlers had 31 shots, 3-4 on the power play, and Luke Cavallin made 31 saves.
The Royals return to the Santander Arena for a three-game series against the Atlanta Gladiators starting Friday at 7 pm. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub.
