For the second time this season, the Reading Royals were shutout – once again on home ice – with a 5-0 loss to the divisional rival Wheeling Nailers.

Since the third period meltdown last game on Jan. 21, the Royals have allowed eight straight goals. Hardly a comforting stat for a team struggling to get into playoff contention.

“It’s hockey,” forward Casey Haines said. “The main point is to just put more goals up than they do and we’re just not doing it right now.”

The Royals got off to a good start, but failed to keep up the strong effort and ultimately were out-played in the last two periods.

“I thought we had one of our best first periods,” head coach Larry Courville said. “We had opportunities to score. We played well defensively and we kind of got away from our game in the second. We stopped hitting.”

In net for the Royals was the recently assigned Jussi Rynnas from the Toronto Marlies, playing in his first game after suffering a concussion from taking a puck to the mask. Along with the team, he had a solid and strong first period, stopping all 10 shots, but his play dipped after the first goal of the game.

“In my opinion, he should have had at least two of the five goals,” Courville said. “Maybe even three.”

Rynnas agreed on the coach’s sentiments.

“I should have those two first goals,” he said. “Maybe those goals were the breaking point in this game.”

Rynnas refused to blame the string of injuries he’s had or the fact that he hasn’t played a game in over two weeks.

“Shit happens,” he said. “In the long run, everybody has small injuries. I can’t go behind that. I have to keep my focus all the time and play better.”

The first period was an evenly fought battle between the Royals and Nailers with neither side gaining any clear advantage. It was a stalemate both on the score sheet and in stats as the first ended scoreless with both teams generating 10 shots each.

The Royals team that started the game forgot to return after the first intermission. The team came out and looked sloppy from the net on up to the forwards.

The Nailers opened the scoring 2:16 into the period and never looked back. Peter Lenes scored a sniper’s goal as he skated down the right side and ripped one top shelf on Rynnas.

Wheeling, who was tied for fifth on the power play on the road coming into the game, continued their success. While Ryan Cruthers was in the box for slashing, Nick Petersen sent a pass from behind the net to Denver Manderson, who took a shot through traffic for a 2-0 lead at 6:25.

Manderson added his second of the night with 2:35 left in the second. A rebound left in the crease by Rynnas was picked up Manderson waiting in front and he scored his 11th of the season.

The Royals barely escaped the second period only trailing by three, but a hopeful turnaround in the third just wasn’t going to transpire as they continued to struggle throughout the remainder of the game.

The Nailers increased their lead to four goals 26 seconds into the final period. Cody Chupp’s shot hit a stick in front and bounced over Rynnas’ shoulder.

Just for good measure, Petersen scored a goal in his first game of the season 1:55 after Chupp to make it 5-0 with another top shelf goal. Courville pulled Rynnas after allowing five goals on 29 shots. Karel St. Laurent came on in relief and stopped all 12 shots he faced with a couple of big saves.

Unfortunately for the Royals, they could not solve Patrick Killeen in the first period and were not able to generate a lot of good chances in the last 40 minutes to get one past him and were shutout for the second time this season.

The Royals head out on a six-game road swing where they hope to rebound and continue their better play on the road. For Courville, he has to find some kind of spark to kick the team back into gear.

“Maybe some line combinations need to be switched up and see if we can get something generated,” Courville said. “That’s where we’re at right now.”

It's not often that the Providence Bruins play on a Wednesday, but judging how this one went, perhaps they should do it more often. Three timely goals from Jordan Caron, Dave Warsofsky and Trent Whitfield and an OT tally from Craig Cunningham lead Providence over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in overtime. This is no small feat, as Wilkes-Barre tends to do well against Providence; additionally, they currently sit in second place in the entire AHL, points-wise.

Josh Hennessy got things going early, dishing the puck to Jordan Caron for a tap-in in front on their first shift of the game, 48 seconds in, past University of Alabama-Huntsville product Scott Munroe. The P-Bruins' Jamie Tardif, then Jordan Caron, each took a penalty following the goal. The 5th-in-the-AHL penalty kill made short work of both man-advantages, and shortly after, Dave Warsofsky took advantage of the "vulnerable minute," putting another one in the net from the top of the slot with 3:05 remaining in the period to make it 2-1. The baby Pens answered, ruining Anton Khudobin's shutout bid about a minute later, as Colin McDonald cut to the net and made it 2-1.

Providence increased their lead back to two goals again early in the second, making it 3-1. Bobby Robins, up on an ATO from the Chicago Express, threw one to captain Trent Whitfield for the goal, at which point Munroe, who had allowed three goals on 10 Providence shots, was yanked for former Northeastern star Brad Thiessen. Thiessen wouldn't let another one by him for the rest of regulation. After some ridiculous penalty killing by both sides, including 1:44 of a 5 on 3 for the baby Pens, with defensemen Andrew Bodnarchuk and Nathan McIver in the box, the teams finished the third period with the score still 3-1.

The Penguins came out charging and answered in the third, first on a goal by defenseman Joey Mormina six minutes into the frame before Providence could even register a shot on goal. Geoff Walker tied it up shortly after, and from there it was a mad scramble of shot-blocks and missed opportunities, all the way to overtime. It was a short OT period, though, as Providence roared into the extra time frame; they pounced on a bad turnover and Craig Cunningham scored his ninth of the season, unassisted, to put the game away. Cunningham took home the game winner and the game's #1 star.

Of note, Providence has taken points in their last five games, winning four of five. They are only three points out of a playoff spot. It goes without saying, but the recent return of defenseman Nathan McIver, who was sorely missed to begin the season, is definitely helping out recently. McIver has appeared in 11 games so far this season.

The last place power play had some action this weekend to move up a spot in the rankings as the Providence Bruins extended a point streak to four games with two wins and an overtime loss this past weekend.

Hoping to try and avoid a three-game losing slump, the Reading Royals headed into Friday night’s game against the goal-scoring juggernaut Kalamazoo Wings. It was the first time the two teams had met since the Wings swept the Royals in the second round of last year’s playoffs.

The Wings, who led the East with 136 goals and the first in the league on the power play, were stopped by the Royals. Reading allowed only one goal to the Wings and stopped them on both power play opportunities in the game. The Royals secured another big home win against a tough opponent, this time coming away with a 4-1 victory as they officially switched to their black jerseys.

“I thought we were terrible in the first period,” head coach Larry Courville said. “Needless to say, I lost my mind after the first period because I didn’t like the way we responded. I thought we had a great second period. Third period, we knew they were going to press. I didn’t think we matched their intensity, but in the end we got the win and our goalie played exceptional.”

New goaltender Paul Dainton received his second start in net and once again faced a high amount of shots.

“I think any goalie will tell you that you want to have more shots than less,” Dainton said. “If you’re sitting in the game where you’re only having 13 or 14 shots a game, there might be four or five minutes before you get a shot and there’s a huge scoring opportunity and you might not mentally be in it even though you’re rested.”

Dainton was up to the task as he made 40 saves en route to his first win as a Royal and was named the game’s first star.

“Tonight, he won us the game,” Courville said. “He was our best player on the ice. Some nights you want the goaltender to be the best player on the ice, but it can’t happen continuously like this.”

The Wings were the top team in the North Division and they showed why right from the drop of the puck. Harry Young took a shot from the right point 5:11 into the opening period. The puck hit Dainton in the shoulder and bounced over and into the net for a 1-0 Wings lead.

The Royals were able to escape the first period only down by one despite their uninspired play and the fact they were out-shot 15-4. They began to show some life in the final minute and were able to draw a penalty as time expired.

The Royals continued their struggles with the extra man at the start of the second. But their third power play finally turned the tide. With two seconds remaining on the power play, bodies crowded the net in front of Wings goaltender Maxime Clermont. A third rebound given up was just what the Royals needed as Ryan Cruthers jumped on the loose puck and tied the game at 4:14.

Another power play in the period provided the Royals with the chance to take advantage of the Wings’ poor penalty kill. It only took 12 seconds into the power play for them to strike. Tyler Brenner skated down below the goal line and fired a shot that somehow snuck under Clermont for a 2-1 Royals lead with 3:49 left in the second.

The Wings weren’t going to go away easily. They pressed in the third period and kept pressure in the Royals end. In the first nine minutes, the Wings poured it on and out-shot the Royals 10-1. Dainton, however, was up to the task and made several spectacular saves to preserve the lead.

The Royals, who had a 2-2-0-2 record at home when they had a lead in the third period, were determined to make sure another collapse wouldn’t happen, and they got the goal they were looking for. John Scrymgeour crashed the net and found a loose rebound and backhanded it in for his second goal in two games at 9:56.

The Wings continued to buzz, but Yannick Tifu sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 26.2 seconds left in the game.

“I really don’t know what’s next,” Scrymgeour said. “All I know is that - it’s a typical answer - but we are working at it. We are trying hard, and like tonight’s game, we might have to go through a couple bounces in the first, but by the third, hopefully we’re there.”

NOTES
In his first two starts as a Royal, Dainton has faced a total of 97 shots. He has a 2.02 GAA and .959 SP in Reading.

The Royals have moved back to a .500 record with the win (16-16-3-3).

SCRYMGEOUR’S RETURN TO THE ROYALS
Scrymgeour suffered an injury in a game against the Wheeling Nailers on Dec. 9 that caused him to miss over a month.

“I don’t want to go too in-depth with it, but I basically inflicted it upon myself,” he said. “It was a lower-back injury and it was just to do with muscles and discs. To be honest with you, it’s still there every once in a while, but it’s something I’ll have to work through.”

Scrymgeour admitted the injury worried him and the doctors.

“It was just immediate pain in my lower back and then my legs gave out and I couldn’t put any pressure on my legs, which caused pressure on my lower back and something as simple as standing or sitting was pretty taxing,” he said.

Scrymgeour worked with the Royals staff every day to get his strength back and he made his return to the lineup on Jan. 14 after being sidelined for over a month. His presence has been immediately felt on the team as he has scored a goal in each of his two games back.

“It’s been a little bit rough, but the simple answer is it’s great to be back,” he said.

Courville recognizes the effort Scrymgeour puts in at practice and in games.

“He’s always been a dark horse since last year coming in on a trial only and worked extremely hard and did a lot of little things we didn’t have in our locker room and we still don’t have it this year,” Courville said. “He’s a gritty player that does a lot of little things. [He] competes. He doesn’t get rewarded on the score sheet very often, but he does a lot of little things that help reward those guys.”

Another home game, another loss for the Reading Royals as their dropped their 10th in regulation and 13th overall in front of their fans at the Sovereign Center with a 4-3 loss to the South Carolina Stringrays in Monday’s matinee game. The Royals had a lead three separate times, but failed to hold onto it each time.

Karel St. Laurent received the start in net for the second time in three games. He had another solid performance, but unfortunately suffered his eighth loss of the season.

“I thought we worked hard today, but didn’t work smart,” head coach Larry Courville said. “And then in the D zone, especially on the fourth goal, we had puck possession twice and failed to get it out, and then we scrambled defensively.”

For the sixth time this season, the Royals were unable to secure a win after taking a lead into the third period.

“Right now it kind of feels like we’re finding ways to lose,” forward Kenny Ryan said. “We’re going into third periods winning and we’re not doing the right things at the end of the game and the details to be successful.”

The Royals opened the scoring almost halfway into the first period. Casey Haines reached a loose puck along the boards and sent the pass to Dennis McCauley left untouched in the slot. After some crafty dekes, he beat Stingrays goaltender Philipp Grubauer for a 1-0 lead 9:19 in.

“Casey made a great play,” McCauley said. “Everyone went to him and he found me coming through the slot and the goalie came out a little bit, so it was nice to have a goal like that. It has been a while.”

Thirty seconds later, however, Haines was sent to the box for holding and it gave the Stingrays the chance to find some life. Mike Hamilton crashed the front of the net and tied the game 1:50 after McCauley’s tally.

The Royals weren’t finished as 1:40 later, they took the lead back. A tic-tac-toe play between McCauley and Yannick Tifu ended with Tifu’s ninth of the year and sixth as a Royal.

The Royals survived a late penalty to McCauley and took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

Eight seconds after the Royals killed their third consecutive penalty of the game, the Stingrays once again tied it up. Brett Flemming took a shot from the right point through traffic and beat St. Laurent at 6:32 of the second.

The Royals once again took the lead back at 13:45. Ryan Button rushed up the ice and sent a diagonal pass toward a streaking Ryan. Ryan redirected the puck in for his second goal in five games and a 3-2 lead for the home team desperately seeking their fifth win in front of their fans.

Not even a minute later, the Royals were given a prime opportunity to take a hold of the game when Maxime Lacroix caught Tifu’s face with his stick. Lacroix was assessed a double-minor as Tifu had to head down the tunnel to get patched up.

But for a fourth straight game, the Royals were unable to convert on the power play and lost the chance to build on the lead, which would end up costing them.

Trailing by one, the Stingrays were able to fight back. Reading blew the lead for the third time in the game just 36 seconds into the last period. Zach Tarkir’s shot from the left point somehow found its way behind St. Laurent to tie the game and take the energy out of the home team.

With just over five minutes left to play, the Stingrays took their first lead of the game, and what proved to be the last goal of the game. Flemming sent a shot from the point, but Pierre-Luc O’Brien, standing in the left circle, made a perfect redirect for his 17th of the season.

“We needed these two points,” Courville said. “I’m kind of banging my head against the wall when you’re up 3-2. I’ve said it over and over again. It’s the little things that have to better and the sense of urgency and the commitment of the defense has to be much better.”

The Reading Royals have compiled a winning record against each of their divisional opponents this season – all except for the Trenton Titans, who have won the last three meetings. Saturday night was no different as the Royals were out-played the entire game and lost, 3-2.

It was a disappointing loss to a last place team after gaining a huge victory the night before over the Elmira Jackals.

"I think it's one of those things where we see [the standings] and we want to make sure we jump on them,” captain Ryan Cruthers said. “Those are games we have to win when you're playing a last place team. I don't look at them as a last place team. They're just as good as any other team in the league."

Royals goaltender Paul Dainton, assigned Friday from the Syracuse Crunch to help ease the load from Karel St. Laurent, faced 56 shots in his debut. Surprisingly enough, it was only the second-highest amount of shots allowed this season by the Royals.

Dainton got off to a shaky start, but settled in as the game went along and came up with some huge saves in the third period to give the Royals a chance to fight back, though they could not come up with a tying goal.

"It's his first game,” Cruthers said of Dainton’s performance. “It's a new team. He doesn't really know our system, but I thought he played really well. He faced almost 60 shots. I was impressed."

The Royals opened the scoring at 9:32 of the first period. Tyler Brenner’s attempted pass bounced off a Titan defender’s stick, but landed in front of John Scrymgeour, activated off IR that day, and caught goaltender Brad Phillips off guard with his shot.

A slashing minor to Louis Liotti late in the period set up the equalizer for the Titans. Rob Bordson skated almost the length of the ice and beat Dainton on his left side with 1:53 left in the first.

Just 50 seconds into the third, the Royals regained the lead with a 2-on-1 from Everett Sheen and Derrick LaPoint. Sheen fired from the right circle to make it a 2-1 game.

It was a short-lived lead as the Titans came right back 48 seconds later. Ryan Hayes lured Dainton out to the right side of the net and seemingly froze him. Hayes took advantage and passed the puck to Bordson, who scored his second of the night into an empty net.

The Titans continued to control the play in the final period, peppering Dainton with 21 shots.

Though his performance grew as the game went on, a rebound given up by Dainton off a shot from Dustin Cameron’s shot slid out to Matt Germain. He buried the game winner top shelf for a 3-2 Titans lead at 4:35 of the third.

The Royals couldn’t muster many chances in the remaining 15 minutes as the Titans continued to pour on the pressure and shots, though Dainton was up to the challenge. The Royals ultimately fell to the Titans, 3-2, and fall back to .500 once again.

"It's frustrating,” Cruthers said. “We had a plan to not lose two games in a row the rest of the year. Now it seems like we're just winning one and then losing one, then winning one instead of trying to win a couple in a row. That's something we definitely have to correct. We have to string a bunch of wins together so we don't have to keep looking at the standings every day and wondering what spot we're in for the playoffs.”

The Reading Royals returned to home ice for the first time in 2012 against the Elmira Jackals, who came into the game riding a nine-game win streak. For the Royals, a big game from rookie goaltender Karel St. Laurent helped them end that streak and come away with a big 3-2 win in overtime.

St. Laurent, who had lost six straight coming into Friday night, received his first victory on home ice in the regular season. He made 33 saves against the tough opponent, including one that led to the game winner.

“That ending goal doesn’t happen if [St. Laurent] doesn’t make a huge kick save,” forward Casey Haines said. “I think that’s a monkey off his back. He’s been a little down, but we finally came to play for him and got the win.”

Through the struggles and losses, St. Laurent said he never lost his confidence.

“Tonight, I showed the people that I can be in this league and I can play,” he said. “It was just a matter of time for me to play better.”

The first period saw the Royals a step or two behind the Jackals. They lacked the energy needed to compete against the top team in the East, but the Royals survived through half of the period without allowing a goal.

It wouldn’t last as a faceoff loss in the defensive end led to the game’s first goal. Jean Bourbeau carried the puck to the top of the left circle and deposited the puck above St. Laurent’s shoulder at 13:46 of the first period.

The Royals emerged with more energy in the second period as they controlled the majority of the play, but continued to have nothing to show for it.

The home team finally broke through with time winding down. A scramble in front of the net left to multiple chances for Yannick Tifu and Ryan Cruthers, but a rebound kicked out to Dennis McCauley, who buried it with 31.8 seconds left to knot the game at 1.

The third period began with the Royals still buzzing. Yannick Riendeau, who has the most points on the team against the Jackals this season, slipped a pass to Haines, but the puck kept going by him and onto Denny Urban’s stick. He fired a shot through traffic and beat goaltender Timo Pielmeier for a 2-1 lead at 6:08.

An odd sequence of events followed a minute and a half later. St. Laurent came out to right side of the net, but with a scramble of players around him, a stick somehow became lodged in his equipment and he could not move and left a wide-open net for the Jackals. The Royals on the ice came to the rescue by clogging the net and blocked several attempts while St. Laurent recovered and jumped back into the net, but unfortunately for him, a shot from Artem Demkov hit him and the rebound came out to Josh Brittain, who scored his first of the year.

“I looked stupid on that,” St. Laurent said. “But I tried to get up and the stick – I don’t know how it was caught. I couldn’t get up. I had to push myself and jump and once I did that, I was out of position and I let out a rebound to the side and he just buried it. The stick was caught between my legs. It’s going to be pretty funny to watch on the video.”

St. Laurent continued to have a strong performance through the rest of the third and kept the game tied at 2 as the game headed into overtime.

For the Jackals, going beyond regulation almost seemed like a guaranteed win. They had gone 3-0 in overtimes and 8-0 in shootouts this season, but like the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And for the Jackals, it did come to an end.

St. Laurent made a brilliant toe save that sent the puck flying up the middle of the ice and helped spring Haines up the ice. He slid a pass through a defender’s legs and Tyler Brenner redirected the puck on his backhand into the net for his first goal as a Royal and the overtime winner.

“You throw it and then you get down and pray that hopefully goes in,” Haines said of the pass. “We were fortunate. [It’s] a big win at home, especially against them.”

Thursday night brought a classic rivalry back to the Garden as the Bruins and Habs faced off in their 716th meeting of all time.  While the game itself played out in it's typical Bruins-Habs fashion, the spotlight of the evening was stolen by the Habs Mike Cammalleri.  Part way into the game the Habs winger was pulled from the game, told to go back to the hotel room and await further instructions, leading to a media and fan frenzy.  At this time it has been confirmed that the Habs winger has been moved to the Calgary Flames in a deal that will bring back Rene Bourque.  The deal is expected to be Cammalleri, Karri Ramo and a 5th rounder for Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland and a 2nd round pick in 2013.  For a team that is trying to find a way to win and support an interim head coach they believe in, this could be a great move or leave them further from finding the answers they seek.

The game itself was a defensive battle.  As always, the Montreal Canadiens came into Boston looking to do whatever it took to unseat their long time rival.  Scoring in this one was found early on as a bad bounce lead to Carey Price being out of position and freshly recalled Jordan Caron finding the back of an empty net.  While the Bruins would control the flow of the first and most of the game, they were sloppy in the first and gave the Habs a number of chances to come in with numbers on Tim Thomas.  Luckily the B's were able to keep plays to the outside, limit the number of rebounds and keep Montreal off the scoreboard even though they got off 16 shots.

Coming out in the second and third though the Bruins became a much crisper and physical team.  "We wanted to play a much tighter game, we wanted to win our battles, make cleaner passes and not be sloppy" said captain Zdeno Chara.  From the second on they did so as Milan Lucic, Adam McQuaid and Johnny Boychuk lead a campaign of big hits on the Canadiens.  The Bruins added to frustration of Montreal by locking down the neutral zone and forcing any plays in their end wide resulting in only 6 shots by the Habs in the 2nd.  

Frustration for Montreal carried into the 3rd as they picked up the pressure early on attempting to win the forechecking battle and swarming in their own end.  The play of Lucic-Krejci-Horton foiled this though as quick puck movement lead to Lucic being dominant in a 1 on 1 in a battle down low where he'd get a backhand shot off, beating Price.

Having been the brunt of some of the physical play brought on earlier in the game, defenseman PK Subban attempted to instill his own will on center David Krejci.  Subban targeted the Bruins forward twice with the second hit being a high elbow to Krejci as he attempted to gain the blue line.  The result was the unleashing of the pack mentality filling the Bruins news as of late.  Andrew Ference jumped in to let Subban know the play was unacceptable which lead to a familiar scene with Subban covering up on the ice.  With the refs calling a rather accurate game tonight, Subban was sent to the box for elbowing and Ference was given a double minor for roughing.  On the ensuing Habs power play, Yannick Weber would give Montreal it's only goal of the night beating a screened Tim Thomas short side.

Thoughts of the night:

Both teams played well and made this a game of blocked shots and strong defense.  It also show cased the different styles that both teams apply on the ice; Montreal's defensive, minimal puck control, ability to take small errors and turn them into big opportunities and Boston's puck possession, physically dominating, work the puck and find the opening or bang it home play.  With both teams playing with amazing goaltending behind them and being dedicated to play in their own end, this one ended up being rather conservative and closer than most of the games Boston has engaged in as of late.

With the All Star Game nominations freshly distributed, the play of Tyler Seguin has visibly been given a lift.  The 19 year old winger continued his rapid sophomore year development tonight by working his speed and skills to push the Montreal defense to the limit.  An early outside-inside move by Seguin said it all- he's finally feeling the confidence in himself to take on NHL defenders and make them play him with the puck, rather than putting it in just dumping or putting it in on net.  With the speed he's been developing at this year, this might just be the first of many All Star Games Seguin sees.

David Krejci's assist on Lucic's goal tonight gave him a 10 game point streak, the longest point streak in the NHL this season.  Krejci's work on the ice is noticeable as his line has shown to be dominant in the past 10 games, controlling the puck, getting to the net and scoring goals.  This line will need to keep up this effort over the next 2 weeks as the Bruins see one of their toughest stretches of the season.

Sometimes you find out a particular player went undrafted in an NHL Entry Draft and you wonder why. Carter Camper is one of those players.

The rookie forward is headed to the AHL All-Star Classic to represent the Providence Bruins and is one of 13 rookies selected.

The Providence Bruins are headed toward another weekend with three straight victories with wins against the Portland Pirates and Worcester Sharks before they face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers this afternoon.

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