BRAMPTON, ONTARIO – David Vallorani scored on the power play but the Brampton Beast dropped a 3-1 contest against the Reading Royals on Sunday night.
 
The Brampton Beast returned to the CAA Centre for the first home game of February on Friday night. The Reading Royals were in town for a Valentine’s Day showdown that had massive North Division implications.
 
The Royals struck first with a goal from defenseman Jeremy Beaudry. He fired a shot through the pads of goaltender Alex Dubeau and gave the Royals a 1-0 lead at 15:11.
 
That would be all the scoring in the first,, as Reading’s Felix Sandstrom was able to smother all chances the Beast could muster through the first 20 minutes. Shots after the first were 14-7 in favour Reading.
 
The Royals added another pair of goals in the second frame that extended their lead to 3-0. Matthew Strome and Matthew Gaudreau converted at 6:43 and 14:32 respectively in that middle frame.
 
Brampton was down 3-0 after 40 minutes of play and would trail in shots by a count of 25-16.
 
The third period saw the Beast get on the board with a power play goal from David Vallorani. Erik Bradford fired the puck in and the rebound was kicked wide to Vallorani, who sent it into the open net at 13:46.
 
The Beast didn’t have much time after that goal and weren’t able to muster any further chances as the time ticked down.
 
The Beast dropped a 3-1 decision as the horn sounded. Alex Dubeau was tagged with the loss and made 27 saves. Sandstrom got the win and wound up with 22 saves of his own.
 
Notes: Molson Three Stars 3) Vallorani (BRA) 2) Crocock (REA) 1) Beaudry (REA) The Beast finished the evening one-for-one on the man advantage. Reading was held scoreless in three attempts. Brampton will travel to Kalamazoo to face the Wings tomorrow night. Puck drops at 7:00 PM.