Three Days, Three Games, Three Wins

READING, PA. – A strong offensive effort from the Norfolk Admirals (18-26-4-0) gave them their third win in as many days, beating the Reading Royals (28-17-1-2), 5-3.

The home side burst out of the gate, dominating play in the first ten minutes.  Seemingly holding a vice grip on the Admirals, the Royals forced an unorthodox turnover from Admirals captain Brodie Dupont in his own end, leading to a shot from Florian Iberer and a rebound that was wired into the net by Johnny McInnis for his tenth of the year and first of the night.

McInnis’ shot was one of Reading’s 12 in the first nine minutes of action, however, it was the only one that beat Brandon Anderson.  Anderson, who was making his first start in net for Norfolk since Wednesday, was traded from the very same Reading Royals back on December 13.

Norfolk’s lone goal in the first came from defenseman Frankie Simonelli, who found himself in the right place at the right time.  After a Joey Benik shot whistled wide of the net, the Bensonville, IL native was waiting for the bounce back on the right side of Martin Ouellette.

Brady Vail would continue his team’s momentum in the second period, scoring the only tally of the frame.  Just acquired earlier this week from the Idaho Steelheads, the Hendersonville, NC native cleaned up a rebound after the initial shot came off the tape of T.J. Foster.  Ouellette was screened during the play and unbeknownst to him, a large majority of the net was left open for the new #72’s shot from the slot.

In the final 20 minutes, Ben Murphy extended the Admirals lead to 3-1.  Streaking down the right wing, the Bowling Green University alum unleashed one of his patented wrist shots, beating the Reading netminder cleanly for his 12th of the year.

Reading would have an answer to that marker though, as Johnny McInnis earned his second of the evening.  The eventual number two star of the night was able to cut his team’s deficit to just 3-2 but that was the closest they would get to knotting the score.

Paul Rodrigues gave the Admirals their two goal lead once again with an attempted pass from the goal line that caught a piece of a Royal, deflecting into their own net.  The goal came just two seconds after Reading’s Jesper Pettersson came out of the box after a tripping call and came with helpers from Frankie Simonelli and Brodie Dupont.

Speaking of Simonelli, the defenseman capped off his three-point night with an empty-net goal from his own zone in the final minutes of the regulation.  With Ouelette on the bench, the third-year pro sent a shot the length of the ice that rolled into the empty four-by-six.

Tyrell Goulbourne did find the twine for Reading in the final seconds of the game, however, it was too little, too late for his team and the Admirals left Santander Arena with a 5-3 win.

The team will now return home to Norfolk before hitting the road for Orlando on Tuesday.  After a three-game set there, the crew will play five in a row at home, starting with a Spaghetti Wednesday matchup, February 22nd against the Florida Everblades.  The first 200 people to purchase a full-price ticket the day of the game will receive a free spaghetti dinner, served in Meeting Room Four at Scope from 6-8 P.M.

Tickets for all games in the home stretch are on sale now on Ticketmaster.com, as well as at the Norfolk Scope box office.