Their players have bounced back and forth between Reading and the AHL like stray pingpong balls. They've lost others to injuries and illnesses. But, somehow, the Reading Royals have gone eight straight games without an official loss.

Royals coach Karl Taylor might not know who will be on his bench from day to day, but no matter who is suiting up, his team's resiliency has always been there.

“We don't quit,” forward Jason Kostadine said. “We have 6,500 fans in the stands. They obviously don't want to see us roll over and put on a bad show for them.”

They were down to 13 core players Saturday. That included captain Reagan Rome, who was coming off a stomach illness. Still, Reading rallied three times against the Toledo Storm to send it into overtime before eventually falling 4-3 in the shootout.

Overtime and shootout losses count as ties, thus the Royals (27-11-6) have a 4-0-4 record in their last eight games.

“Our guys were tired,” Taylor said. “It was pretty obvious out there. We kind of battled through it a little bit. (The tie) was very deserving and rewarding. We fought back. I hate those shootouts, boy.”

The Royals had just 12 skaters Friday night in Greenville, S.C., where they fell to the Grrrowl in OT. They bused back to Berks County, arriving early Saturday morning. They called on a pair of former Reading players in Graig Mischler and Brent Ozarowski to fill in.

With 12:29 to play, the Royals tied it 3-3 as Mischler passed to Dany Roussin from behind the net. Roussin's shot bounced back to Mischler, who slipped it in near the right pipe.

The game went into a shootout after both teams failed to convert on a handful of chances in overtime. The Royals' fifth shooter, Shay Stephenson, beat goalie Bryan Worosz with a shot from the mid-slot to tie the shootout 4-4 and send it into a sixth round.

Bracken Kearns then shot to his left to beat goalie Cody Rudkowsky, and Reading's Malcolm MacMillan was stuffed by Worosz.

“We just tried to be smart and keep it simple,” Taylor said. “At times we got away from that. We just wanted to play a real simple game. When we have a chance to press, let's press. Unfortunately, they won in the shootout. You just stand there and watch, and they won.”

The Storm (23-13-5) got on the board 2:03 into the game with a Brad Bonello power-play goal. The Royals answered 4:45 later with a Grant Jacobsen breakaway.

Toledo regained the lead two minutes later during a four-on-four situation as Kearns fed Mike James off the rush. Reading tied it again with 6:21 to go in the second when MacMillan broke away from the left wall at center ice to tie it 2-2.

Toledo got a breakaway of its own 1:20 into the third with Todd Jackson rushing off the right wall, then beating Rudkowsky to make it 3-2.

The two teams meet again this afternoon in a 1:05 game at the Sovereign Center.

“We got in this morning at 8 a.m.,” said Kostadine, who fought Ken McGowan in the second period. “It took a lot of effort. It was one of the hardest games, personally, that I've ever played. Some guys can't sleep on the bus.”