Jared Coccimiglio and Billy Sheridan each scored a third period goal to cut the visiting Rebels deficit in half, but it wasn’t enough as Philadelphia fell to the Maine Nordiques 4 – 2 in game one of this two-game series.
It was the Rebels third straight loss.
Maine’s Nils Forselius gave the Nordiques a 1 – 0 lead with 4:21 remaining in the opening period. The Nordiques’ Kellen Murphy started the play at the top of the slot and skated towards his left and went down and behind the Rebels net. As he started to circle around the cage, he passed the biscuit to Forselius who took a sharp angle shot that beat Rebels netminder Jack Fialkolff short side for Forselius’ twelfth goal of the season.
The Nordiques doubled their lead just forty-four seconds into the second period. Maine’s John Paul Steel took a clapper from the top of the slot that went wide of the net and the puck rimmed around the near boards where it was picked up by Jake Bernadet. Bernadet skated towards his left and took a shot from the high slot that was redirected out front by Charles Tardiff and past Fialkoff for Tardiff’s league high 21st goal of the season.
David Helledy scored at 4:54 into the middle stanza to make it 3 – 0 on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play between Liam Gilmartin, Nick Ramm and Helledy that Fialkoff never had a chance on the play.
Maine went up 4 – 0 with 4:16 left in the second on Cole Hipkin’s second goal of the season.
The Rebels showed some fight when Coccimiglio scored his eighth goal of the season at 7:30 in the third period to make it 4 -1. Then Billy Sheridan’s shot off the near side post that beat Maine’s Thomas Heaney with 6:08 left in the game made it 4 -2 to close out the scoring.
Fialkoff and Jakub Krebeck combined to stop 21 of 25 shots while Heaney turned aside 29 of 31. Click HERE for the complete box score.
