Five different players produced goals and all three lines scored as the Johnstown Chiefs beat the Reading Royals 5-3 on Saturday night at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
The Chiefs won their third straight game to finish January with a 5-7 mark after slumping early in the month
“It was nice to play with the same lineup three straight games,” Chiefs coach Ian Herbers said. “It made a huge difference. Guys are becoming comfortable with each other and building chemistry.”
Johnstown beat Reading in 10 consecutive games dating to Feb. 1, 2008 and won their eighth straight this season against the Royals.
Goaltender Kris Mayotte turned aside a penalty shot by Reading’s Brock Hooton 14:02 into the game.
“I actually didn’t read it very well,” said Mayotte, who tied a career high with his 18th win. “I just tried to make myself as wide as possible. It hit my blocker. That’s my job as a goalie. It’s another save I need to make.”
The Chiefs had three goals in a span of 2 minutes of game clock late in the first and early in the second.
Marty Mjelleli netted his first goal of the season at 18:33 of the first, lifting a shot over Royals goalie Michael Ouzas’ shoulder.
“It was at the tail end of the power play,” Mjelleli said. “The puck was right there. The goalie was a little bit smaller and I knew if I was going to score it had to be up top. I just shelved it.
“It went in and out so quick. I already had a goal that was waved off by a holding penalty earlier this year. This one went in and out. I threw my arms up. I saw the ref finally call it a goal. It was like a weight was lifted.”
Defenseman Greg Gallagher scored just 36 seconds later with assists from Jason Spence and Sean Berkstresser.
“It was just hard work,” said Gallagher, who had two points and a plus-3. “We were able to jump on them at the end of the period and we kept on them at the beginning of the second.”
Johnstown’s Ryan Del Monte made it 3-0 only 33 seconds into the second period. Jarrett Konkle’s shot on a breakaway bounced off the backboards to Del Monte in the slot.
The Royals’ Dan Rudisuela scored at 3:33 of the second. Toby LaFrance tallied his first goal as a Chief 13 seconds into the final period, and Todd Griffith made it 5-1 at 5:37, as the line of Griffith, Petr Pohl and Blair Yaworski continued to roll. Pohl has scored at least a point in eight straight games.
Reading’s Chris Stevens scored at 7:20 of the third and Rudisuela converted a power play at 12:29.
Chiefs
Johnstown continues dominance of Reading
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Johnstown sufferes an epic loss
The final seconds ticked down in the Johnstown Chiefs’ ECHL existence on Saturday night, and even though the hometown team trailed by four goals, a standing-room-only crowd began chanting, “Let’s go Chiefs.”
That chant would be nothing out of the ordinary on most nights. But this game was the last game.
Twenty-two ECHL seasons and thousands of memories came to a conclusion when the Chiefs dropped a 5-3 contest to Elmira at Cambria County War Memorial Arena. -
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So, this is it.
Twenty-two ECHL seasons and 1,518 regular-season games.
It ends tonight at a sold-out Cambria County War Memorial Arena. -
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From goalies to grinders to scorers, the Chiefs have seen it all
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