ELMIRA, N.Y. — The Philadelphia Rebels earned a hard-fought 3–2 shootout victory over the Elmira Aviators on Friday night, with goaltender Ilja Nikitins stopping 38 shots to help secure the win.
Philadelphia improved to 19-24-2-6 with the victory, while Elmira fell to 17-24-5-3.
Philadelphia opened the scoring in the first period when Ryan Bunting capitalized on the power play to give the Rebels a 1–0 lead.
The Rebels extended the advantage in the second period as Thomas Klochkov scored on the power play to make it 2–0.
Elmira responded later in the second period when Ilya Baldin cut the deficit to 2–1. The Aviators tied the game in the third period on a goal from Evan Dantas, forcing overtime.
Elmira generated several chances in overtime and held a 5–0 edge in shots during the extra session, but Nikitins kept the game tied to send it to a shootout.
In the shootout, Nikitins stopped attempts from Corson Maguire and Dantas. Bunting scored in the second round before Klochkov sealed the win in the third.
Nikitins finished with 38 saves on 40 shots for Philadelphia, while Aiden McKenna made 28 saves for Elmira.
Philadelphia finished 2-for-4 on the power play, with both goals coming from Bunting and Klochkov, while Elmira went 1-for-5 with the man advantage in a physical game that featured 142 combined penalty minutes.
The Rebels will look to finish off the weekend sweep on Saturday with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m.