The Reading Royals (39-23-6) returned to the Norfolk Scope Arena on Friday night to begin a three-game series against the Norfolk Admirals (19-44-5). Coming into this game, the Royals led the season series 5-3.
Two minutes and fifty-eight seconds into the first period, Brendan Hoffmann (12) scored to make it 1-0 Royals with an assist from Yvan Mongo. Later in the period, Blake Murray (8) tied the game for Norfolk 1-1 with assists from Ian White and Danny Katic. With six minutes and eight seconds left, Brendan Hoffmann (13) scored his second goal for a 2-1 Royals lead. Ryan Cook assisted with his goal. The Royals had 14 shots and led 2-1 after one period.
In the second period, the Royals scored four goals in the first seven minutes and fourteen seconds by Solag Bakich (2), Evan Barratt (21, 22), and Will MacKinnon (7) for a 6-1 lead.
Then, the Admirals came back to score two straight goals by Stepan Timofeyev (15) and Griffin Lunn (12), cutting the Royals’ lead to 6-3. Late in the second period, Solag Bakich (3) made scored his second goal that made it 7-3 Royals with assists from Max Newton and Ryan Cook. The Royals had 14 shots and led 7-3 after two periods.
Five minutes and one second into the third period, Max Newton (31) added to the Royals’ lead. It was now 8-3. Shane Sellar and Solag Bakich assisted with his goal. A minute and seven seconds later, Eric Cooley (8) scored. It was now 8-4 Royals and Stepan Timofeyev and Justin Allen assisted with Cooley’s goal.
The Royals had seven shots and defeated the Admirals by the final score of 8-4. Reading finished the night with 35 shots, 1-4 on the power play, and Pat Nagle made 18 saves. On the other side, the Admirals had 22 shots, 0-1 on the power play, and Tomas Vomacka made 27 saves.
The Royals and Admirals go at it again on Saturday at 6:05 pm. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub.
