SWAMP RABBITS EARN POINT ON “NASCAR NIGHT”
By: Mark Binetti, Greenville Swamp Rabbits
Power play scores for a sixth time in seven games; Reading takes the second point in the shootout.
(GREENVILLE, S.C.) – Casey Dornbach scored his first goal as a Swamp Rabbit, and John Parker-Jones gave the team a power play goal for a fourth straight game and sixth in the last seven, but the Reading Royals countered and eventually beat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in a shootout by a 3-2 score on “NASCAR Night,” presented by Arthrex.
Both teams traded blows in the opening frame, ending with the Swamp Rabbits carrying a lead into the dressing room. With 9:28 gone by in the first, the Swamp Rabbits created an opportunity while forechecking that left Casey Dornbach wide open in the slot. Dornbach fired his shot off the bar and past Reading goalie Keith Petruzelli, giving the Swamp Rabbits a 1-0 lead, with his first as a team member (John Parker-Jones and Tate Singleton assisted). Precisely 76 seconds later, however, Mason Primeau found himself open in the slot all alone, rifling a shot over the shoulder of Swamp Rabbits net-minder Dryden McKay to square the game at 1-1 (Matt Brown and MacKenzie Dwyer assisted). Following a brief penalty kill and a bout of four-on-four hockey later, the Swamp Rabbits went to their first power play and kept the heat up on their man-up play. With 4:04 left in the first, Bryce Brodzinski rifled a shot from inside the blue line that deflected off the 6’7” frame of John Parker-Jones and past Petruzelli, giving the Swamp Rabbits a 2-1 lead entering the intermission (Brodzinski and Tyson Fawcett assisted).
Reading found an equalizer on their power play at the midway point of the second to bring the game level once again. With 10:32 left in the frame, Sam Sedley walked off the blue line to the high slot and snapped a shot through traffic past McKay to square the game at 2-2 (Mason Primeau and Matt Brown assisted).
Both teams couldn’t solve each other in the remaining 30:32 of regulation, necessitating overtime. The Swamp Rabbits earned a power play late in the period of free hockey but couldn’t crack Petruzelli, prompting a shootout to determine the winner. Colton Young was stopped at the top of the first round and answered by Jake Smith, outlasting McKay to give Reading the early lead. After Carter Savoie went off the crossbar, the game was on the stick of Matt Brown, who snuck the puck past McKay to give Reading the second point and a 3-2 win.
Dryden McKay stopped 25 of 27 shots in suffering the shootout defeat (9-13-3-1).
The Swamp Rabbits now embark on a three-week seven-game road trip, beginning next Wednesday against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Puck drop at Heritage Bank Center is slated for 7:35 p.m. EST.
