The Reading Royals (1-5-1-1) concluded the three-game road trip on Sunday afternoon against the Wheeling Nailers (4-1) from the WesBanco Arena.
A minute and thirty-six seconds into the first period, Thimo Nickl put the Nailers up 1-0 with assists from Dillon Hamaliuk and Tanner Laderoute. At 3:17, Reading forward Ryan Chyzowski tied the game 1-1 with assists by Devon Paliani and Matt Brown.
For the rest of the first period, Wheeling added three more goals, two of them scored by Jordan Frasca and the other by Lukas Svejkovsky for a 4-1 lead. The Royals had six shots on goal but trailed 4-1 after one period.
Fifty-six seconds into the second period, Jordan Frasca completed the hat trick which made it 5-1 Wheeling with assists from David Jankowski and Jarrett Lee. At 4:37, Dillon Hamaliuk added another goal for the Nailers which made it 6-1 with assists by Tanner Laderoute and Jordan Frasca.
For the rest of the second period, Reading scored two goals. The first was at 6:44 by Shane Sellar with assists from Adam Brubacher and Alec Butcher which made it 6-2. Then at 8:08, Joseph Nardi made it 6-3 with assists from Dilan Peters and Mason McCarty. The Royals had seven shots on goal but trailed 6-3 with one period left to play.
Seven minutes and forty-nine seconds into the third period, Justin Addamo scored for Wheeling which made it 7-3. Lukas Svejkovsky and Cédric Desruisseaux assisted with his goal. Late in the third period, Shane Sellar scored his second goal of the game. It was 7-4 with assists by Matt Brown and Adam Brubacher.
The Royals lost to the Nailers by the final score of 7-4. They had 24 shots on goal, committed four penalties for 16 minutes, went 2 for 6 on the power play, and goaltenders Jacob Kucharski made 10 saves off 14 shots and Will Cranley made 18 saves off 21 shots.
The Royals visit the Cool Insuring Arena on Wednesday night against the Adirondack Thunder at 7 pm on FloHockey. Purchase Reading Royals tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.