SEWELL, NJ – The Philadelphia Rebels (23-24-1-1, 48 pts) opened a two-game weekend series at home Friday night with a 2-1 defeat to the Maine Nordiques (28-17-2-1, 59 pts).
Jakub Krbecek’s shutout streak of four games came to an end after a historic run, allowing a goal to open the scoring 10:01 into the first period.
Krbecek’s shutout streak spanned 261 minutes and 37 seconds, including 141 consecutive saves. He fell just 40 minutes and seven seconds short of the North American Hockey League consecutive shutout minutes record.
Maine, averaging 3.7 goals per game coming into the matchup, scored two goals in a span of 39 seconds in the first period.
Philadelphia locked down defensively the rest of the night and continued to pump shots at the Nordiques’ net.
With the empty net, a late goal by Max Hamstad with 1:33 left gave Philadelphia a chance to complete a late comeback. However, in the final 93 seconds, the Rebels were unable to regain control and generate a scoring chance.
Philadelphia generated plenty of chances prior to Hamstad’s goal, as evidenced by 20 shots through two periods. Going into the third period, they had not solved Nordiques’ netminder Thomas Heaney. The Rebels finished with 30 shots for the game.
The series finale is slated for Saturday with the opening faceoff coming at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free for all fans. The game is available to be streamed on MyHockeyTV.
