Goaltender Colt Hanks turned aside 45 shots last night as he and his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights’ teammates defeated the Rebels 3 – 1 at the Revolution Ice Centre giving the teams a split during their weekend series.
The Rebels picked up where they left off on in Friday night’s game by pressuring the Knights throughout the entire game, particularly in the first and third periods. However, Hanks played exceptionally well, making several key saves to keep the Rebels off the board.
Despite being outshot 16 – 8 after the first period and no score, the Knights were still in the game heading into the second period because of Hanks. WBS’ got on the board first at the 5:43 mark of the second period. Keenan Sabatini was deep in his zone and he banked the puck high off the glass into the neutral zone where it was picked up by Joey Kubachka. Kubachka brought the puck deep into the Rebels zone and made a nice seam pass to a wide open Khristian Acosta who redirected the shot passed Mareks Mitens for his eighth goal of the season.
The Knights would take a 2 – 0 lead at the 12:09 mark of the middle period. After the Knights won the faceoff deep inside their own zone, the puck came back to defenseman Dorian Dawson. Dawson passed the puck around the boards to the top of the faceoff circle to Reed Robinson. Robinson made a nice saucer pass to a breaking Andrew Jackson who skated into the Rebels zone and took a wrist shot that beat Mitens high short side for his fifth goal of the season.
The Rebels would cut the deficit in half with five minutes remaining in the period. Joey Abel won the drawl deep inside the Knights zone. The puck was picked up by Carter Woolley by the boards and he made a centering pass to Adam Peck who beat Hanks on a backhander for this second goal of the season.
The Rebels were unrelenting in the third only to be denied by Hanks. With timing winding down, head coach Joe Coombs pulled Mitens for the extra attacker. Reed Robinson intercepted a pass at his own blueline and skated into the Rebels zone and hit the open net to finish the scoring at 3 – 1. It was only the second time out of ten chances the Knights have defeated the Rebels.
Mitens turned aside 26 of the 28 shots while Hanks stopped 45 of 46. Click here for the box score.
The Rebels will finish this weekend at home playing the New Jersey Titans at 5pm today.
