The New Hampshire Mountain Kings scored four unanswered, third period goal to defeat the visiting Rebels 4 – 3 in game one of this two-game series. New Hampshire’s Oli Genest scored the game tying and winning goals.
Abby Alibek, Caesar Björk, Mikey Conlon scored to give the Rebels a 3 – 0 going into the third period.
The Rebels have lost six out of their seven away games this season.
Alibek got the visitors on the board with 9:05 remaining in the first period. With the Rebels pressuring in the offensive zone, the puck went behind the Mountain Kings net where it picked up by a New Hampshire defenseman. The Mountain Kings’ defender tried to bring the puck up through the goalmouth but he was stripped off the puck by Jared Coccimiglio who passed the biscuit to Alibek on his right and Alibek slammed the puck past New Hampshire netminder Sam Caulfield and into the back of the net for Alibek’s second goal of the season.
Six minutes later Björk doubled the Rebels lead. Ruslan Jamaldinov picked up the loose puck at the top of his own far side faceoff circle and carried the biscuit through center ice and into the offensive zone. As Jamaldinov gained the line, he passed the biscuit to Björk on his left and Björk took a wrist slot from just inside the faceoff circle that beat Caulfield high, short side for Björk’s seventh tally of the season.
Conlon gave the Rebels a 3 – 0 lead with 3:49 remaining in the middle stanza. With play inside the Mountain Kings zone, the puck went back to Conlon at the top of the far side faceoff circle. Conlon circled around, stepped up and took a wrist shot that founds its way through a screen and past Caulfield for Conlon’s first goal of his junior career.
The Mountain Kings then completed an improbable comeback by scoring four, unanswered goals in the third period starting with Jaden Davis just thirty-one seconds into the final stanza. After New Hampshire won the draw just outside the Rebels zone, the puck went to the Mountain Kings’ Jaden Johnson who brought the biscuit into the offensive end along the near side boards. Johnson skated behind and around the Rebels net and slid a pass through the goalmouth to Davis who redirected the puck past Owen Crudale to make it a 3 – 1 game.
New Hampshire’s Kim Hilmersson cut the Rebels lead to one at the 8:46 mark of the third. The Mountain Kings won the draw just outside their own near side blueline and the puck went back to Michael Solominsky at the top of his own far side point and Solominsky passed the biscuit up to Genest just outside the Rebels blueline. As Genest gained the line, he made a center pass out front to Hilmersson in the slot and Hilmersson redirect the puck past Crudale for Hilmersson’s tenth goal of the season.
Genest scored his first of two goals of the game with 8:06 remaining in the period. After Crudale made a save, the rebound came out to New Hampshire’s Tommy McDonough, who was to the left of Crudale. McDonough sent a pass back to Damon Bossie at the top of the point. Bossie took a shot on net that was redirected by Genest out front and past Crudale to even the score at three.
With fifty-eight seconds remaining in the game, Genest scored his second of the game to give the Mountain Kings the 4 – 3 victory. Genest picked up the loose puck at center ice and carried it into the Rebels zone. As he reached the far side faceoff circle, he skated around Ryan Vaites and took a wrist shot that beat Crudale to win the game.
Crudale stopped 32 of 36 shots while Caulfield – playing in he NAHL debut – turned aside 35 of 38. Click HERE for the complete box score.
