ODENTON, MD – The Philadelphia Rebels (10-15-0-1, 21 pts) held on late for a 3-1 road win over the league-leading Maryland Black Bears (20-7-2-0, 42 pts) on Friday night.Just before the halfway point in regulation, the Rebels were holding a 1-0 lead in their own zone when Jakub Krbecek made two stops to hold the advantage, including a save from the seat of his pants on Kal Essenmacher.
Moments later, Connor Sedlak took a hit in the neutral zone, but worked the puck ahead for Max Marquette. Marquette entered the offensive zone and took a shot off the left pad of Maryland netminder William Hakansson. The rebound went right to Carter Casper’s tape and he found the back of the net for his second of the season, extending Philadelphia’s lead to 2-0.
Krbecek had a career-high 51 saves in the win, including 19 in the third period. He was outstanding all night as the Rebels earned their first victory of the season against first-place Maryland.
Philadelphia had to withstand a push from Maryland in the third, but were able to prevent Maryland from tying the game after a late goal brought the Black Bears within one.
Tyler Stern scored an empty-net goal on a shot from his own zone to ice the game for Philadelphia.
In the first period, the Rebels opened the scoring with Kris Samitis’ fifth of the year. It came on the rebound off a Greg Spitznagel shot. Spitznagel recorded his team-leading 13th assist of the season, while Sonny DiNubile recorded his fifth. DiNubile later added his sixth assist on Stern’s empty-net goal.
The Rebels played a disciplined game on Friday night, taking just two penalties and killing both of them off.
The teams are back in action on Saturday night to wrap up the series in Maryland. Puck drop will be at 7:30 p.m. and it can be seen on HockeyTV.
