Railers Sweep Home-and-Home off Moran’s 31 Saves

Worcester Railers HC at Reading Royals

January 28th, 2023

Meeting 5 of 8 vs Reading this season

Railers are 2-2-1-0 vs the Royals this season

Railers Sweep Home-and-Home off Moran’s 31 Saves

Reading, PA – The Worcester Railers HC (22-17-3-0 47 points) defeated the Reading Royals (25-12-2-0 52 points) by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 5,628 at Santander Arena. This closed out their two-game series against the Royals this weekend. The Worcester Railers are home next weekend for a three-game series against the South Carolina Stingrays.

Charlie Gerard (1-0-1) scored the first goal of the game fourteen minutes into the game. Devon Paliani (1-0-1) scored the second goal for the Royals one minute later. Worcester responded with under a minute left in the first period. Quinn Ryan (1-0-1) found the back of the net to make it a one goal game. Anthony Repaci (1-0-1) tied it five minutes into the second period. The tie was broken twelve minutes into the third when Worcester scored their third goal in a row. Ryan MacKinnon (1-0-1) was the one to score the goal off a pass from Reece Newkirk.

Neither team opened the game with a goal within the first minutes of the game like they had in previous meetings. Four minutes into the game Worcester hopped on the first power play of the game after a slashing call. On the power play Worcester took a series of shots which were denied by Royals goalies Nolan Maier including a sprawling save from a Quinn Ryan shot. The Royals struck first halfway through the first period. Charlie Gerard (18th) found himself all alone on a breakaway with Worcester’s goalie Brent Moran the only person left to beat. Gerard’s wrist shot set off the red light giving the Royals a one-goal lead. Not long thereafter, Devon Paliani (6th) scored the second goal of the game for the Royals when the puck found him in the slot ready to be tapped into the goal. Worcester had a golden opportunity to make it a one score game before the end of the first period and they took it. While on the power-play, Collin Adams sent a pass over to Quinn Ryan and he sent the puck soaring off his tape into the back of the net for the Railers first goal. Ryan made it 2-1 going into the second while the shots were tied 11-11 after 20 minutes.

The Railers tied the game five minutes into the second period on a goal scored by Anthony Repaci (8th). Repaci skated along the goal line and cut below the net while he threw it toward the side of the net. The puck managed to just beat Maier and tied the game 2-2 early in the second. Neither team would score for the rest of the period. In tune with the theme for the night, Brent Moran made a phenomenal cross-crease save for Worcester to keep it tied at 2-2 towards the end of the period. Moran was coming off his first career ECHL victory on Friday night in Worcester’s 7-6 OTW against Reading, and was making one miraculous save after another all night long for the Railers.

Worcester entered the third period looking to pick up their third straight win, and second straight against the Royals. The Railers ultimately broke the tie with their third unanswered goal of the game. Ryan MacKinnon (2nd) was back on the roster for the Railers tonight and recorded his second point of the game to put Worcester ahead for good. His one-timer soared past Maier to break the tie and give the game its final score of 3-2.

Notes: 3rd Star: Charlie Gerard (1-0-1). 2nd Star: Anthony Repaci (1-0-1). 1st Star: Ryan MacKinnon (1-0-1, GWG). Shots were in favor of Reading 33 to 30. Blake Christensen led the Railers in shots with 5 and Charlie Gerard let the Royals with 7 shots. Brent Moran had 31 saves on 33 shots. Nolan Maier had 27 saves on 30 shots. Worcester moves to (22-17-3-0 47 points) on the season.

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