Nailers Outshoot Royals 37-21, but Fall 7-2

READING – Despite being outshot 37-21, the Reading Royals defeated the Wheeling Nailers 7-2 at the Sovereign Center Saturday night.

For the sixth consecutive game, the Wheeling Nailers scored first. Alex Grant blasted a slapshot from the point which ripped past goaltender Matt Dalton to give Wheeling the 1-0 lead. Nearly 45 seconds later, the Royals responded with a goal of their own. Robert Slaney broke into the zone on the wing and from the board sniped a shot above the glove of Nailers netminder Patrick Killeen to tie the game at one.

The Royals took the lead with just 13 seconds remaining in the period. After an offensive zone faceoff win, defenseman Rob Kwiet fired a slapshot from the point which beat Killeen, to give Reading a 2-1 lead at the end of one.

The Royals stormed out of the gates in the second as Olivier Labelle scored this 15 goal of the year to extend the Reading lead to 3-1. The goal signaled the end of the night for Killeen who allowed three goals on nine shots. Peter Delmas entered the game, but was rudely welcomed by the Royals less than a minute later. Chris Blight lifted a cross-ice feed to teammate Andrew Sarauer, who hammered home a one-time shot on the backside to lift the Reading lead to 4-1. Moments later, Blight was awarded a penalty shot, but Delmas was able to make a pad save to keep the score 4-1 at the end of two periods.

In the third, Casey Haines broke into the zone and fired a wrist shot past the glove of Delmas at 2:46 of the period to make the score 5-1 in favor of Reading. Wheeling got back on the scoreboard at 13:01 as Doug Rogers shot on the breakaway was stopped by Dalton, but Christiaan Minella buried the rebound to the back of the net. The goal was the 11th of the season for Minella, and his first as a Nailer.

Wheeling rolled the dice with three minutes remaining, by pulling the goaltender while on the power play to create a 6-on-4 advantage. However, Blight sealed the game by firing the puck into the empty net to extend the lead to 6-2. Reading’s Ryan Cruthers scored a power play tally with six seconds remaining, to secure the game 7-2. Royals goaltender Matt Dalton made 35 saves to improve to 5-0 against Wheeling this season.