In the first game against each other since the 2017 East Division Final, the New Jersey Titans defeated the Philadelphia Rebels by a score of 4-2 on Friday night at the Class of 1923 Arena.
It was the first of three games between the two teams this week, as Nick Boyagian picked up two assists while Matt Ladd made 27 saves, improving the Titans’ record to 10-5-1-1.
The Rebels jumped out to an early lead when Jordin Holmes took a shot from the low slot after a goalmouth scramble, netting his first goal of the season.
At 12:47 of the 1st period, Tate MacDonald evened the score at one with a backhander that beat Rebels goaltender Eli Billing. Nick Boyagian entered the zone and had the puck knocked away from him, but MacDonald was right behind him and shot the puck far side for his second goal of the season.
Two and a half minutes later, Matthew Cameron notched his third goal of the season on the power play, giving the Titans a 2-1 lead.
The score remained 2-1 until the halfway point of the 3rd period. At 10:52 on the power play, Ryan Naumovski took a one-timer that was stopped by Billing. Andrew Husted was in front as the puck bounced off him and went into the net before it was knocked off its pegs.
The goal was initially disallowed, but after a minutes of the officials discussing the play, Husted was awarded with his fifth goal of the season, giving the Titans a 3-1 lead.
Jensen Zerban made it a one-goal game with 33 seconds remaining. With six attackers on the ice, the Rebels won the faceoff as Zerban swooped in and beat Ladd up high for his fifth goal of the season. The comeback effort fell just short for the Rebels, however, as Todd Goehring cashed in on the empty net with 13 seconds left on the clock, sealing the Titans’ 4-2 victory.
The Titans have two more games in Philadelphia in a span of three days, with the second game taking place on Sunday at 6:20 p.m., then one more game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. All of the action will be streamed on hockeytv.com.