The Reading Royals fell to the Wheeling Nailers, 5-4, at WesBanco Arena on Sunday as the ECHL season winds down.
The Royals, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, are 31-27-9-2.
Goaltender Vinnie Purpura (11-5-4-1) suffered the loss in goal with 32 saves on 35 shots faced while Nailers’ goaltender Taylor Gauthier (17-10-2-0) earned the win in goal with 34 saves on 35 shots faced.
Eli Lieffers (2) scored the game-opening goal for Wheeling 30 seconds into play that gave the Nailers a 1-0 lead through the first period. Gabe Klassen (19) and Mats Lindgren (7) added to Wheeling’s lead at 3:42 and 16:50, respectively.
Mason Primeau (11) cut Reading’s deficit to two, with the Royals lone goal in the game, at 19:12 into the second period.
Gauthier turned aside all 12 shots faced from Reading’s offense in the third period to secure the weekend series victory for Wheeling (41-24-3-1).
With the loss, the Royals fell to 2-2-0 through the first four games of their five-game road-trip and have registered a point in 16 of their last 21 (13-5-2-1), as well as 28 of their 38 games since Jan. 1st, 2025 (21-10-5-2).
With Worcester’s overtime loss against Adirondack on Sunday, Reading clinched the first tiebreaker (regulation wins) and would earn fourth in the North Division standings, should Reading and Worcester tie in points at the end of the season.
The Royals road-trip concludes on Wednesday against Norfolk at Norfolk Scope Arena at 7:05 p.m. The Royals return home for the final two games of the regular season against Worcester on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Santander Arena.
