Defenseman Ryan Vaites scored two, third period goals but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Rebels fell to the New Jersey Titans 5 – 3. It was the second game of a home-and-home series in which the Titans swept the series. Jared Coccimiglio also lit the lamp for the Rebels.
The Rebels pressured all night taking 43 shots on Titans netminder Austin McNicholas but McNicholas had to make several key saves to keep his team in the game.
New Jersey’s Owen Leahy gave the home team a 1 – 0 lead just 2:53 into the game. The Titans’ Nick Reich entered the Rebels zone and took a shot that went over the net and hit the end wall where Reich was able to fend off Zach Spagnuolo for the loose puck. As Reich started to skated towards the fall side corner, he made a centering pass out front to Leahy who took a one-timer that beat Owen Crudale long side for Leahy’s third of the season.
Bryce Strand was called for holding with 3:01 remaining in the opening period. The Titans doubled their just ten seconds later. After New Jersey’s Ryan Friedman won the draw deep inside the Rebels zone, the puck went back to Blake Jones at the far side point. Jones made a cross-ice pass to Ryan Shall who sent a return pass immediately back to Jones at the top of the point. Jones shuttle passed the biscuit up to Friedman at the top of the slot, and Friedman took a wrist shot that found its way through a screen and past Crudale to make it a 2 – 0 game.
Coccimiglio, who recently returned to the team, cut the Rebels deficit in half at 4:09 of the middle stanza. Coccimiglio picked up the loose puck at center ice and started to retrieve towards his own zone. As he watched the flow of the play develop, he skated up along the near side boards and flipped the biscuit high into the offensive zone where a Titans defender wasn’t able to control it. Coccimiglio picked up the loose puck, cut towards the far side boards, deke around McNicholas and backhanded the biscuit up and over the fallen goaltender and into the back of the net for Coccimiglio’s first goal of the season.
New Jersey regained their two-goal lead at 6:41 of the second. The Titans’ Jeremy Sprung brought the puck up along the near side boards and into the offensive zone. As he gained the line, Sprung took a wrist shot that went off Crudale’s glove and the rebound was picked up by New Jersey’s Caden Wells. Wells skated towards the far side corner and then started to circle back towards the Rebels net. Wells took a wrist shot that was deflected out front and the rebound came right out to Sprung on the door step and he jammed the puck into the back of the net for Sprung’s second of the season.
The Titans made it 4 – 1 after scoring their second powerplay goal of the evening with 7:41 left in the middle stanza. New Jersey’s Jack Hillier took a wrist shot from the near side point that founds it way through a maze of players in front of the Rebels net and past Crudale.
Vaites scored his first goal of the evening and season at six minutes into the third period. After Thomas Neu picked up the loose puck at the top of his own near side faceoff circle, he made a long, cross-ice pass to Linas Dedinas breaking down the wing. As Dedinas gained the line and cut towards the net, he took a shot that was saved by McNicholas but the rebound came right out to Vaites on the doorstep and the Mullica Hill, NJ native slammed it home into the back of the net to cut the Rebels deficit in half.
Vaites brought the Rebels within one at the six-minute mark of the third. As Coccimiglio was being checked from behind at the near side half wall in the Titans zone, he had the wherewithal to pass the biscuit up to Neu at the corner. Neu made a centering pass out front to Vaites in the slot, and Vaites beat McNicholas to make it a 4 – 3 game.
New Jersey’s James Schneid put the game out of reach when he scored with 5:05 remaining in the game to give the Titan a 5 – 3 win. Crudale and Beau Lane combined to stop 14 of 19 shots while McNicholas turned aside 40 of 43. Click HERE for the complete box score.
The Rebels will host the Danbury Hat Tricks for a pair of games next weekend.
