Toledo Downed by the Royals; Walleye Return Home on Friday, March 18
3/12/2011 - (Reading, PA)– The Royals scored twice in the first period and beat Toledo 5-2 in Reading. Toledo is 28-28-5 on the season and 14-13-3 on the road. Toledo is now 2-2-1 against Reading this season.
The Royals jumped on Toledo early tonight with two goals in the first period. The first came at 5:58 when Casey Haines batted a loose puck past Toledo goaltender Thomas McCollum. The second was a perfect shot by Eric Castongauy at 15:59. The Royals outshot Toledo 20-10 in the first.
“We knew they were going to come out fired up after not playing last night,” said Head Coach Nick Vitucci. “I thought for the most part we fought through that early storm. The quick third period goals deflated our sails tonight.”
The Walleye would get on the board when Mike Hedden’s pass in front of the Reading net deflected off of the Royals goaltender Matt Dalton and into the net for Hedden’s team-leading 28th goal of the season. The Walleye power play goal came at 8:18 of the second and the assists went to Andy Bohmbach and Jason Lepine. The Royals would reclaim a two goal before the end of the second.
The Royals scored two goals just 29 seconds apart in the middle of the third period to go ahead 5-1. The Walleye would collect another goal at 15:25 of the third period when Tyler Doig beat Dalton with a wrist shot with Hedden and Bohmbach assisting on the goal.
Walleye Notes:
-Walleye goaltender Thomas McCollum made 42 saves and is 7-6-1 on the season.
-Toledo’s power play finished the night 2-2 and is 11 for their last 25 on the man-advantage.
Walleye Transactions: Prior to tonight’s game Toledo signed forward Sean Timkey to a contract. Timkey just finished his college career with Utica College. He appeared in 64 games in four years at Utica.
The Toledo Walleye will be back at home Friday, March 18th at 7:00 PM vs. the South Carolina Stingrays at the Huntington Center. Tickets are on sale for that contest and all remaining home games. Fans can call (419) 725-WALL or visit the arena box office for more information.
