Maryland’s Owen Lepak stopped all twelve shots he faced to lead the Black Bears to a 5 – 0 win over the visiting Rebels tonight at the Piney Orchard Arena. It was the second straight time that Lepak and the Black Bears blanked the Rebels (the last game they played was back on January 20 and Maryland won 1 – 0).
Maryland’s Dimitry Kebreau scored the eventual game winner just 1:19 into the contest. The Black Bears’ Luke Amell picked up the loose puck at the top of his own slot and passed it up to a breaking Kareem El Bashir through center ice. As El Bashir gained the offensive line, he made a drop pass to Kebreau who took a wrist shot from the top of the slot that beat Jakub Krbecek blocker side for Kebreau’s first tally of the game.
Billy Sheridan was called for a double high sticking call with 4:16 remaining in the first. With 1:03 left in the period, Maryland’s Evan Sofikitis scored the Black Bears first of two powerplay goals of the game. The Black Bears’ Michael Urgo brought the puck into the offensive zone through center ice. As he gained the line, Urgo passed the biscuit to former Rebel Tyler Stern at the near side blueline. Stern turned and made a backhanded pass to Amell at the faceoff dot, and Amell passed the puck to Sofikitis at the top of the slot and Sofikitis took a shot that found its way through a screen and past Krbecek blocker side to make it a 2 – 0 game.
Jeremi Tremblay scored his first goal of the game at 4:19 into the middle stanza to increase Maryland’s lead to 3 – 0. After Tremblay took a shot from the top of the slot that missed the Rebels net, the biscuit bounced off the end wall to Riley Ruh who made a centering pass out front to Tremblay and Tremblay took a wrister that beat Krbecek.
Kebreau scored his second goal of the game just fifty-three seconds later to make it 4 – 0. Tremblay lit the lamp his second time on the man advantage with 2:46 left in the middle stanza to make it a 5 – 0 game and close out the scoring. Through seven games this season against the Rebels, Kebreau and Tremblay (along with Ruh) have scored four goals each against Philadelphia.
Krbecek and Owen Crudale (one goal allowed) combined to stop 40 of 45 shots. Click HERE for the complete box score. The final regular season series game between the teams will be tomorrow night starting at 6:30PM.
