The New Jersey Titans took 3 of 4 points in a home and home series against the Philadelphia Rebels over the weekend.
Friday night saw the Titans travel to the Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, New Jersey, for the first time this season. A scoreless first period saw the Titans outshoot the Rebels by a 15 to 9 margin, but fail to score. Philadelphia would begin the second period on the power play, at one point outshooting the Titans 7 to 0 to begin the period. The Rebels scored the first goal of the game at 7:32 of the second period, but Jack Hillier responded for New Jersey 41 seconds later for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Ryan Novo. A scoreless third period meant the Titans would play their second consecutive overtime game, and fourth overall of the season. But, for the first time this year, the extra frame was not kind to New Jersey when a puck trickled through goaltender Dylan Krick’s legs to give the Rebels their 5th straight victory over the Titans, stretching back to last season. Krick stopped 28 of 30 shots in the losing effort.
Saturday night saw the teams travel 90 miles north to the Middletown Sports Complex, and New Jersey got on the board 3:53 into the game with Dominik Bartecko’s 7th goal of the season. The Rebels tied the game less than two minutes later, but Bartecko would strike again at 16:31 to restore the lead. It would not last, as a Philadelphia power play goal with 28.2 to go in the period sent the teams into the intermission tied at 2. In the second, Logan Renkowski converted on a shorthanded 2 on 1 to put the Titans up by one with his 3rd of the season8, but again the Rebels responded, scoring with under 5 minutes to play. It appeared the teams would remain deadlocked through 40 minutes of play, but Johnny McMahon went bar down on the backhand with 16.2 for his 8th of the year to give the Titans a lead they would not relenquish. The Titans’ defense held in the third, and Ryan Friedman potted an empty net goal for his 4th of the year, delivering a 5-3 victory for New Jersey.
Now with a record of 12-10-1, the Titans remain in 6th place in the nine team East Division. The team will spend the next two weekends on the road, beginning with a two game set against the Maine Nordiques on Friday, December 1st, at 7:30pm, and Saturday, December 2nd, at 7:00pm. Both games will be available to watch on NAHLtv