READING, PA - The Norfolk Admirals, proud ECHL affiliates of the Carolina Hurricanes, defeated the Reading Royals, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon in the final meeting between the teams this season.
Similar to the night before, the game was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams. Reading struck first in the contest, scoring with 3:10 remaining in the opening period on a goal from Thomas Ebbing to go up 1-0.
Norfolk responded with a goal from Joe Widmar with 58 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at one apiece going into the intermission.
Norfolk continued their dominance into the second period, collecting a power-play goal from Cody Milan with 13:32 left in the period. Norfolk has scored power-play goals in four of the last six games, with four goals coming against the Royals.
Chase Harwell helped to extend the Admirals lead to two when he deflected a shot from Christian Hausinger with 1:38 remaining in the period.
Reading was able to end the onslaught of unanswered goals with another goal from Ebbing with 44 seconds left in the second period.
Trailing 3-2 to start the third period, Reading came out with authority and didn't let up. The Royals' offensive attack was successful, tying the game at three on a goal from Patrick Bajkov with 3:40 remaining. Bajkov has scored six times against the Admirals this season.
With time winding down in regulation, Noah Corson skated into the offensive zone for Norfolk and collected a puck at the goal line. Sending up a prayer with 13 seconds left, Corson shot the puck, which he managed to narrowly place between Reading goaltender Logan Flodell and the nearside post, to give Norfolk the lead. Corson has scored six goals in the past four games and has 16 goals on the season.
Marly Quince won the faceoff for Norfolk two seconds later and played the puck to Alex Tonge, who scored an empty-net goal. Tonge had two assists tonight to go along with his goal. The two goals just two seconds apart from each other is now an ECHL record.
Norfolk improves to 22-34-2-3 on the season and have won two straight in Reading, a place they have historically struggled in. The Admirals are back in action on Tuesday, March 29th, when they take on the Jacksonville Icemen in the first of five games at home.
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