Friday night at the Arena on Penn Street for the first time in the new calendar year. The Royals won two of three on their most recent road trip, on this night the division-rival Maine Mariners visited for the first of a three-game series. These clubs met in the opening round of playoffs in each of the last two seasons, the names and faces change but the history never goes away. These three games comprise the Mariners' lone appearances at the Arena (gotta love the ECHL schedule). In the Friday opener the Royals took a 1-0 lead early in the second period thanks to Devon Paliani, Parker Gahagen and the defense corps made that one goal stand up the rest of the way. The shutout is the club's first of the season and the first at home since 2022 (Logan Flodell in the playoffs over Maine, Hayden Hawkey in the regular season vs Adirondack). Game #2 on Saturday night was Affiliation Night, the Royals wore sweaters resembling the NHL Flyers. The evening started well enough, goals by Shane Sellar and new addition Jake Bricknell gave the Royals a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes. Devon Paliani upped the advantage to three but from there the game turned on a dime, single scores in the first and second periods for the Mariners was followed by a three-spot in the third. Brayden Guy brought the Royals back to within one but a Maine empty-netter in the final minute put away a 6-4 win. Parker Gahagen started for the second straight night and took the decision as the Royals fall to 14-16-2 overall and 8-7-1 at the Arena. The rubber match is on Martin Luther King Day at 1:00. Take care, thanks for reading.
