BRAMPTON, ONTARIO – Lindsay Sparks scored his fourth goal in two games and Joey Daccord made 35 saves as the Brampton Beast defeated the Reading Royals 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
For the second straight day the Brampton Beast faced off the Reading Royals at the CAA Centre. The Beast skated away with a 5-3 win in Saturday night’s contest between the two clubs.
The first period saw the Beast fall into some early penalty trouble, as Cam Bakker and Erik Robichaud both sat for slashing. The resulting five-on-three for the Royals didn’t produce a goal, largely in part due to goaltender Joey Daccord, who made some incredible saves.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the first 20 minutes of play, so the Beast headed into their dressing room scoreless. The shots after the first period of play were 14-7 in favour of Reading.
The Beast took over in the second period and were able to capitalize on some offensive opportunities. He first came off a David Pacan feed in the offensive zone. He was able to find the open Lindsay Sparks, who broke behind the Royals defense.
The skilled forward would drop the puck on his backhand and beat Felix Sandstrom at 2:44 for a 1-0 Beast lead.
Brampton would continue their assault in the frame with a goal from Francois Beauchemin. The forward, fresh off his loan from Belleville, would walk into the attacking zone and rip a perfect shot into the back of the net to give the Beast a 2-0 lead at 3:24.
Brampton ended the second up 2-0 and trailing in shots by a count of 24-16.
The third period saw the Royals pull within one off a gorgeous goal from Rob Michel. The defender walked into the Beast zone and sent a slick backhand through the legs pf Daccord to pull Reading within one at 5:19.
The Royals elected to pull the netminder with a few minutes remaining as they hunted for the tying goal. Daccord was solid and the Beast blueline held up as the final horn sounded. Brampton would win their second straight contest, this one by a score of 2-1.
Joey Daccord would finish with 35 saves and the win. Sandstrom would make 21 stops and would be tagged with the loss.
Notes: Molson Three Stars 3) Sparks (BRA) 2) Beauchemin (BRA) 1) Daccord (BRA) The Beast and Royals finished the contest a combined zero-for-nine on the man advantage. Brampton will now head to Reading to face the Royals on Friday night.