Reading, Pa. – Johnstown goaltender Kris Mayotte made 41 saves Sunday as the Chiefs beat the Royals 4-2 at the Sovereign Center in Reading.
Mayotte improved to 7-1-0 in his last eight games against the Royals and 5-5-2-0 for the season. The Chiefs defeated the Royals for the fourth consecutive time after losing the first two meetings of the season.
Rookie Troy Schwab started the scoring for Johnstown with his fifth goal of the season at 9:12 of the first period. Ryan Menei made a saucer pass over the stick of Reading’s Dinos Stamoulis for a quick one-timer by Schwab that beat Royals goaltender Matt Dalton for the 1-0 lead. Menei and David Schulz assisted. Dan Collins gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead at 11:07, deflecting a hard shot by defenseman Russ Sinkewich behind Dalton for his fourth, assisted by Sinkewich and Chase. Less than a minute later Menei added his third of the season at 11:31 to give Johnstown the 3-0 lead. Connor Shields and Greg Gallagher assisted.
The Royals rallied late in the period to beat Mayotte at 18:49 and cut the lead to 3-1. Robert Slaney took advantage of a Johnstown turnover in its own zone, walked off the boards and took a backhander that was kicked away by Mayotte. The puck came right to Greg Scott who knocked in the rebound for his first professional goal to end the period.
Reading continued its attack to start the second period and took advantage of a holding penalty to Chiefs defenseman Gallagher for a power-play goal at 5:39 to cut the Chiefs lead to 3-2. Ben Gordon took a pass from Jared Ross and fired a hard slap shot that beat Mayotte between the pads for his 10th goal of the season. Ross and Ryan Cruthers assisted.
The Royals continued to dominate the play for the remainder of the period, outshooting Johnstown 17-9. Mayotte made several key saves to retain the Chiefs lead, and Gallagher added to the lead at 17:54 of the period. Gallagher took a seemingly innocent wrist shot from high in the slot that beat Dalton high to the glove side for his third of the season. Menei assisted, earning his third point of the night.
Holding a 4-2 advantage to start the third, Johnstown stepped up its defensive effort and held Reading to just seven shots through the remaining 20 minutes after allowing 36 shots over the first two periods. The Royals pulled Dalton for the extra attacker with over two minutes remaining in the period, but Reading was unable to assemble any kind of attack as Johnstown held on for the win.
Johnstown improved to 7-9-3-0 overall with 17 points on the season. The Chiefs are currently in last place in the ECHL American Division but trail the Trenton Devils by two points for third place. Trenton, which lost Sunday to the division-leading Elmira Jackals 6-1, sits above the Chiefs with 19 points at 8-10-1-2 over all.
Johnstown will enjoy a brief rest before beginning a three-game series Wednesday against the Wheeling Nailers.
Scoring:
Team: 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Johnstown: 3 1 0 4
Reading: 1 1 0 2
Shots:
Team: 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Johnstown: 12 9 7 28
Reading: 19 17 7 43
Power Play:
Johnstown: 0-for-2
Reading: 1-for-3
Three Stars:
1. Johnstown – Kris Mayotte
2. Johnstown – Ryan Menei
3. Reading – Greg Scott
Comments