After a hard-fought series, the Reading Royals, the ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, are moving onto the North Division Finals.
The Royals defeated the Maine Mariners and sealed the deal with a fitting 6-2 victory in Game 6 on Saturday night at Santander Arena. Reading received goals from 6 different scorers, but Jacob Gaucher led the way with a pair of assists on top of his late first period tally. Captain Garrett McFadden’s first goal of the playoffs early in the second period would stand as the series-clinching marker before Zayde Wisdom added an insurance goal right after.
Before last night’s series-ender, Reading started the series off on the right foot.
Game 1 saw the Royals edge the Mariners 2-1 as Charlie Gerard scored with just 3:54 remaining in the third period and Pat Nagle stopped 25 shots to give Reading the victory.
Reading used the momentum to start Game 2 strong with an early goal from Brendan Hoffmann and after some back-and-forth tallies, the Royals were able to pull away in the second period thanks to Evan Barratt and Max Newton.
Zayde Wisdom buried an empty-net goal to seal the deal after Maine earned a goal back to lift Reading to a 5-3 win.
Once the series shifted back to Maine, the Mariners fought their way back into the series. The Royals held a 3-2 lead halfway through the third period of Game 3, but Tim Doherty notched his first goal of the playoffs with 2:06 left in the period to force overtime before Alex-Olivier Voyer played the hero in the extra frame for Maine despite Pat Nagle’s 46 saves.
The Mariners would use Game 3 as a stepping stone into Game 4, where they dominated from start to finish in a 7-3 thrashing of Reading led by Carter Johnson’s hat trick.
Reading was able to get their bearings back under them and fought back to take Game 5 with a 4-3 decision and leave Cross Insurance Arena with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to advance on home ice.
Of course, the Royals were able to seal the deal and advance to the North Division Finals.
They will take on the Newfoundland Growlers, Toronto’s affiliate. The Growlers are coming off a 5-game victory over the Adirondack Thunder in the North Division Semifinals where they won the final 4 games of the series after dropping the first game on the road in Glens Falls.
For Reading, this is a very familiar position to be on. They defeated Maine in the opening round in 6 games last year before taking on Newfoundland, and they will look to avenge last year’s loss to the Growlers in 7 games after being up 3-1 in the series.
Entering the series against Newfoundland, Max Newton and Jacob Gaucher are tied for the Royals lead in goals with 4 each, while Evan Barratt and Garrett McFadden are tied for the team lead in assists with 6. Gaucher also leads all Royals players with 8 points in the playoffs. In goal, Pat Nagle is 9th in GAA (2.48) and 8th in SV% (.926) across the ECHL to accompany his 4 wins, which is tied for the top spot.
