READING, PENNSYLVANIA – David Vallorani and Erik Bradford scored goals but the Brampton Beast dropped a 5-2 contest against the Reading Royals on Friday night.

The Brampton Beast hit the road and drove down to Santander Arena for back-to-back dates with the Reading Royals. Brampton went 2-0-0-0 against the Royals this past weekend at the CAA Centre.

The Royals struck first on the night on a power play goal from their captain, Garret Mitchell. The forward picked off a pass and fired a high shot that beat Beast netminder Alex Dubeau over the glove side for a 1-0 lead at 12:16.

Brampton had some chances to convert, but Royals starter Kirill Ustimenko was solid and kept the boys out of Brampton scoreless after the first. The shots on goal favoured the Royals after 20 minutes of play to the tune of 12-8.

The second period saw the Beast tie the game right off the bat on the power play. David Vallorani took the pass at the top of the circle and wired the puck into the net to tie the game 1-1 at 1:31.

Moments later it was Erik Bradford who found twine to give Brampton a 2-1 lead at 2:47.

Reading kept the pressure on and forced the Beast into a pair of defensive mistakes as the period went on. The Royals were able to capitalize and were rewarded with goals from Max Willman and Marty Quince at 12:48 and 13:18 respectively, as Reading retook the lead 3-2.

Brampton was down 3-2 after 40 minutes of play and would trail on the shot counter to the tune of 31-17.

The third period saw the Royals pull ahead once again, this time with a goal from Trevor Gooch. The forward took advantage of a Beast turnover and made it 4-2 at 9:26.

The Royals outburst continued with a second power play goal, this time from Willman. The forward’s second of the game made it 5-2 at 15:38.

The Beast found themselves in penalty trouble late and were unable to mount an offensive attack as they dropped the contest 5-2 on Friday night.

Dubeau would make 33 total saves in the loss. Ustimenko would be credited with the win after stopping 22.

Notes: Molson Three Stars 3) Gooch (REA) 2) Qunice (REA) 1) Willman (REA) Brampton finished the night one-for-five on the man advantage. Reading went two-for-six.  The two clubs will duke it out again tomorrow night in Reading. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.