It has been a hectic 24 hours for Luke Radetic. He arrived in Philadelphia late last night and made it in time for today’s away matinee game against the New Jersey Titans. He then had a great debut having two points including the game winning goal in a shootout to give the Rebels a 3 – 2 win over the Titans.
This was an exciting game. There was plenty of end-to-end action. A fight. Each team had numerous scoring chances, and the goaltenders played extremely well to keep their respective team in the game.
The Titans would open the scoring at the 8:41 of the first period on Gavin Gulash’s sixth goal on the season.
Holden Biebel brought the puck out of the Titans zone and passed it up to Hunter Alden. As Alden went to enter the Rebels zone, Philadelphia defenseman Kolby Vegara inadvertently fell giving Alden the opportunity to go in the offensive zone on a two-on-one with Gavin Gulash. As Alden got to the near side faceoff dot he passed the puck to Gulash on his right. Gulash took a one-timer that beat Rebels goalie Ryan Keane to give the Titans a 1 – 0 lead.
Aaron Maguyon’s seventeenth goal on the season would tie the game with 7:25 into the second period.
Maguyon would bring the puck deep inside the Titans zone. He stopped at the goal line and started to skate back towards the near side circle. As he got to the top of the circle he passed the puck down low to Radetic who redirected the pass towards the net but was stopped by New Jersey netminder Brandon Perrone. The rebound came directly back to Radetic who skated with the puck behind the Titans net. As he went around the net sent a drop pass to Maguyon who went behind the net up along the near side boards. Maguyon dropped the puck off to Seth Bergeron who skated to the corner. Bergeron would make a nice pass in the slot to Maguyon who deeked around Perrone and to light the lamp to make it a 1 – 1 game.
Matthew Cameron would give the Titans back the lead with 4:05 left in the period.
Andrew Husted would win the draw deep inside the Rebels zone. He would send the puck back to Cameron at the top of the near side faceoff circle. Cameron skated towards the Rebels net and took a shot that was saved by Keane but the rebound came out directly to Cameron who put it through Keane’s five hole to give put the Titans up 2 – 1.
With 6:15 left in the third period, New Jersey’s Spencer Stanley was called for cross-checking to put the Rebels on the powerplay.
After Perrone made a save on a Carson Moniz shot from the point, the rebound camp out to Brandon Stanley on his left. Stanley sent the puck back to Moniz at the top of the circle. Moniz passed the puck down low to Maguyon who took a shot that Perrone saved but Stanley tucked in the rebound to tie the game at two with 4:27 remaining in the game.
As the siren sounded to end regulation, each team had a few chances to win it in overtime but Keane and Perrone made stellar saves to send the game to a shootout – the Rebels first shootout on the season.
Maguyon would go first. As he got to the bottom of the faceoff circle he shot and beat Perrone high glove side.
Gulash would go next. As he skated towards the net he faked a slapshot then moved to his left but Keane made a blocker side.
Jensen Zerban would be the second Rebel. As Zerban skated towards the net he tried to deek Perrone and slip the puck through his five hole but Perrone closed the pads to deny Zerban.
Nick Boyagian was the second Titan for the shootout. He entered the Rebels zone wide and took a shot that beat Keane blocker side to make it 1 – 1 in shootout.
Radetic would be the final Rebel to go. Radetic entered the offensive zone by the near side boards. As he started to cut across the crease he shot the puck low glove side past Perrone to put the Rebels up.
Ryan Naumovski was the last shot for the Titans. Naumovski skated directly in on Keane and took a shot that was easily caught by Keane to give the Rebels the win.
Keane stopped 19 of 21 shots while Perrone turned aside 27 of 29. Click here for the box score.
The Rebels are off this upcoming weekend. Their next game is against the Titans on Valentine’s Day at 7:00pm at Middletown’s Ice World.
