The New Jersey Titans won their second game in a row as they defeated the Philadelphia Rebels by a score of 4-3 on Friday night at the Middletown Sports Complex.
New Jersey got on the board less than five minutes into the game when Johnny McMahon potted his first goal of the season, assisted by Owen Leahy and Lazarus Ebanoidze. For McMahon, it was his first goal since March 16th against Northeast, after the Long Island University commit was bitten by the injury bug. The Titans doubled their lead in the second period when Jack Roberts scored his second in as many games, with Blake Jones and Owen Leahy picking up the helpers. Minutes later, goaltender Austin McNicholas would stop his first penalty shot in the NAHL to keep the clean sheet through 40 minutes of play.
Philadelphia would score 7:45 into the third to cut their deficit to one, but goals 17 seconds apart from Leahy and Jack Hillier gave New Jersey the margin they would need. Leahy wrapped home his 6th of the season at 9:20, assisted by McMahon and Hillier. Off the ensuing faceoff, Hillier found himself open and one timed a James Schneid pass for his team leading 9th of the year. Archer Brown picked up the other assist. The Rebels would answer back a minute later, and a goal with under a minute to go made things exciting, but the Titans avenged last Tuesday’s loss and improved their record to 10-9-1, maintaining their position in 4th place.
The Titans will now travel to South Jersey to complete the back half of this weekend’s home and home series. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:30pm at the Hollydell Ice Arena, and fans are encouraged to select the away feed when watching on NAHLtv.com.