Defenseman Dusan Kemec’s powerplay goal fifty seconds into overtime gave the visiting Philadelphia Rebels a 4 – 3 win over the Northeast Generals last night. The victory moved the Rebels into sole possession of second place in the East Division and a point behind the division leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights.
The Rebels would score the only tally of the first period on Brandon Stanley’s fifth goal on the season. After Diarmad DiMurro dumped the puck behind the Generals net, Stanley picked it up and was immediately met by a Northeast defender. Stanley passed the puck up along the corner to Aaron Maguyon who sent a pass back to DiMurro at the point and the Dartmouth commit took a shot through a screen that was initially saved by Northeast goalie Marko Sturma but Stanley tucked in the rebound and put it past Sturma with 8:38 left in the period.
The Generals would tie it at 3:56 into the second. Eric Olson went to clear the puck out of the zone but it was deflected along the far side boards by Alex Cohen. The puck would bounce high into the air and then was picked up at the top of the slot by Kmec. Kmec went to pass the biscuit behind his own net to Carson Moniz but it was intercepted by Justin Kelly who immediately passed the puck to Cohen in the slot and he one-timed it passed Rebels goalie Ryan Keane for his fourth goal on the season.
Northeast would score their second consecutive goal with 6:16 remaining in the period. After Sturma made a save the rebound went out to teammate Brady Gaudette to his left. Gaudette would lob the puck up high and it bounced into the Rebels zone where it was picked up by Mike Egan in the far side corner. Egan would send a pass back to the point to Joe Nagle who took a shot that was deflected by a Rebels defenseman towards the left side of Keane. Egan would pick up the loose puck and circle around the Rebels net and passed it to Gaudette in the slot. Gaudette took a wrister that was saved by Keane but the rebound came out to Egan who was to Keane’s right and he put the rebound past the Rebels goalie to give Northeast a 2 – 1 lead.
A little over a minute and a half later Alex Frye would score his first of two straight goals to even the score. Frye would intercept a Generals pass at the top of goal mouth in his own zone and then passed the puck to Ryan Patrick up along the far side blueline. Patrick would enter the offensive zone and take a shot that was saved by Sturma but he juggled it and the rebound came directly out to Frye who put it past the fallen Generals’ netminder to make 2 – 2 with 4:39 left in the second.
Having scored on 38% of their chances on the powerplay against the Generals going into this series, the Rebels would take advantage of the extra attacker when the Generals were called for too many men on the ice with 2:39 remaining in the middle stanza.
Andrew Bellant picked up the puck at center ice and sent a pass up to Frye who would enter the offensive zone along the far side boards and then cut towards the goal mouth. As he got to the top of the crease, Frye made a great drag around defenseman Ryan Rowland and put the puck top shelf past Sturma to give the Rebels back the lead at 3 – 2 with 1:47 left in the period.
The Generals would tie the score on Gaudette’s second goal of the game. Matt Wiesner would take a shot that was saved by Keane but the bouncy rebound came directly out to Gaudette and he tucked in the rebound to make it 3 – 3 at 5:30 into the third.
As time was winding down in regulation, Egan would be called for slashing with twelve seconds left to give the Rebels the extra attacker heading into overtime.
With the game now into overtime, the Rebels would cycle the puck through the offensive zone. Kmec would receive a pass from Kolby Vegara who was to the left of Kmec. Kmec would pass it down low to Bellant who sent a quick return pass to the Kocise, Slovakia native. Kmec took a shot from the top of the far side faceoff circle that beat Sturma high glove side to give the Rebels the 4 – 3 victory.
Keane stopped 13 of 16 shots while Sturma turned aside 40 of 44 shots. Click here for the box score.
The two teams will meet for their second of this weekend’s three game series tonight at 5:30pm.
