Andrew Bellant, Alex Frye, Aaron Maguyon and Ryan Patrick each had a goal and an assist to help lead the Rebels to a 6 – 1 victory over the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. The win gives the Rebels a six-point lead in the division over the second place Knights.
Maguyon would give the Rebels a 1 – 0 lead with time winding down in the first period. Jensen Zerban would break out of his own zone and pass the puck up Patrick at center ice. Patrick passed the puck to a streaking Maguyon on his right. As the Egg Harbor Twp., NJ native skated towards the bottom end of the far side faceoff circle he took a sharp angle shot that was saved by Knights goaltender David Tomeo. Maguyon picked up his own rebound and circled around the net. He sent a pass across the goalmouth to Zerban who took a shot that saved by Tomeo but the rebound came out to Patrick. Tomeo would make his third straight save but couldn’t control the rebound and Maguyon tucked in the puck for his tenth goal on the season with 2:29 left in the first.
The Rebels blew the game open in the second by scoring three goals. First, Bellant would give the Rebels a two-goal lead with 6:51 into the middle stanza. Bellent would come away with the puck after battling for it in the far side corner. He would pass it back to the point to Kolby Vegara who immediately sent the puck back to Bellant along the boards. Bellant fed the puck to Brandon Stanley in the slot who took a wrist shot that Tomeo made a nice glove save but the rebound was redirected by Frye to Bellant who backhanded the puck past the Knights’ goaltender for his ninth goal on the season.
Auggie Moore was called for roughing at the 8:39 mark of the second to give the Knights the extra attacker. With the Knights trying to set up in the offensive zone, the puck would go back to the point to WBS forward Jack Olmstead who tried to pass the puck to Anthony Firriolo on his right but Bellant intercepted the pass and skated in on Tomeo on a partial breakaway. Firriolo was able to wrestle Bellant off the puck but the Michigan Tech commit veered towards his right and found Patrick following up. Patrick wristed the puck glove side past Tomeo for a shorthanded goal to make it a 3 – 0 game with 10:51 left in the second.
Knights defenseman Blake Kryska was called for tripping with 6:17 remaining in the period to give the Rebels the man advantage. Possessing the league’s best powerplay, Frye would convert and give the home team a 4 – 0 lead. With time winding down with the extra attacker, Maguyon would bring the puck up along the far side boards into the offensive zone. As he started to skate back to the point he tried a saucer pass to Diarmad DiMurro but it was partially blocked by Knights defender. As the puck went into the air, DiMurro knocked it down to his stick and skated to the top of the slot. He passed the puck to Frye on his right and Frye took a blistering wrist shot that hit the back of the net for his seventh goal on the season.
Zerban would pick up his team high thirteenth goal of the season with 4:38 into the final period. With three Rebels battling for the puck behind the Knights net, Patrick would come out of it with the puck and immediately tried a wrap around. After Tomeo made the save, Patrick redirected his rebound to Zerban on his right and the Air Force Academy lifted passed a fallen Tomeo to give the Rebels a 5 – 0.
Vegara would close out the scoring for the Rebels with his third goal of the season at the 8:55 mark of the last period.
The Knights would make with a 6 – 1 game when Matt Kidney would score his twelfth goal on the season with 4:41 remaining in regulation.
Ryan Keane would turn aside 21 of 22 shots while Tomeo stopped 23 of 29. Click here for the box score.
The Rebels will play a matinee home game tomorrow at 4:20pm against the New Jersey Titans. It’s Skate Night with the Rebels immediately following the game. It also will be the Rebels last home game until February 16. The Rebels will begin a nine-game road swing beginning next Friday at Johnstown.
