The Reading Royals (3-6-1-1) continued their four-game homestand on Friday night against the Newfoundland Growlers (5-5-3) from the Santander Arena.
Five minutes and thirteen seconds into the first period, Will Zmolek put the Royals up 1-0 with assists from Joseph Nardi and Yvan Mongo. The Royals had 14 shots on goal and led 1-0 after one period.
Thirty-seven seconds into the second period, Newfoundland’s Tate Singleton tied the game 1-1 with an assist by Brock Caufield. Later in the second period, Reading’s Yvan Mongo put the Royals back up 2-1 with assists from Joseph Nardi and Connor Fedorek. The Royals had seven shots on goal and led 2-1 after two periods.
Eleven minutes and two seconds into the third period, Joseph Nardi extended the Royals lead to 3-1 with assists from Yvan Mongo and Mason McCarty. Then, the Growlers came back late in the third period to score two goals by Grant Cruikshank and Isaac Johnson, tying the game 3-3 heading into overtime.
Thirty-one seconds into overtime, Reading’s Darren Brady scored the game-winning with an assist by Matt Brown to give the Royals a 4-3 win.
The Royals had 28 shots on goal, committed three penalties for 10 minutes, went 0 for 2 on the power play, and Nolan Maier made 31 saves off 34 shots.
The two teams will go at it again on Saturday at 7 pm on FloHockey. Purchase Reading Royals tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
