ODENTON, MD – The Philadelphia Rebels (4-11-0-1, 9 pts) dropped the series opener to the Maryland Black Bears (17-3-0-0, 34 pts) Friday night with a 3-0 loss.
The Rebels offense had good looks throughout the night, however Maryland’s penalty kill proved to be the difference in tonight’s game.
Through 60 minutes, the Rebels went 0/7 on the power play. Black Bears goalie William Hakansson was perfect throughout the entirety of the night, saving all 29 Rebels shots.
The Rebels had three power play opportunities within the first eight minutes of the opening period, yet were unable to capitalize. While the Rebels were on their third power play, Christian Catalano put Maryland on the board first as he scored his league-leading 15th goal of the season, this one being short-handed.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Maryland’s Gabriel Westling gave the Black Bears an insurance goal while they had a man-advantage, and made it 2-0 with less than two minutes remaining in the first period.
A majority of the first half of the second period was spent in the Rebels defensive zone, however Jakub Krbecek had a number of impressive saves especially while Maryland was on the power play.
Krbecek made a career-high 44 saves in the loss.
The final 10 minutes of the second period featured more Philadelphia power play-time. The Rebels had a number of opportunities to score, but fell short.
The third period began with leftover time on a Rebels power play, but Maryland’s penalty kill prevented any scoring opportunities for the Rebels. Seven seconds into Maryland’s fourth power play of the night, Dimitry Kebreau extended the Black Bears lead to 3-0.
Saturday night’s series finale begins at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on HockeyTV.
