A pair of seeing-eye shots from the point and a rebound goal in front of the net sent Jamestown past the Johnstown Tomahawks 3-2 in a rare North American Hockey League afternoon tilt.

“You’re dealing with young men, but at the same time the expectation is high here,” Jamestown head coach Joe Coombs said postgame. “That expectation is: we are successful and we get better. I do think this group has gotten better, but we have a long way to go. We have to put our work in.”

The victory pulled the Rebels (14-13-2-1) into a fourth-place tie with the Northeast Generals in the East Division. The matinee also started a 10-game string of games in January during which Jamestown will play eight at home.

“There’s a lot to be positive about over our first half. One of them is that we’ve played pretty decent hockey on the road,” Coombs said. “We didn’t play great hockey at home. Now, with these young guys hopefully taking a step, hopefully this works to our advantage.”

Jamestown Rebels forward John Lundy, left, attempts to get free of a check from Johnstown Tomahawks forward Egan Schmitt during Sunday’s NAHL East Division game at Northwest Arena. P-J photo by Scott Reagle

Nolan Suggs earned his ninth victory of the season in net for the Rebels, stopping dozens of shots, including a pair early in the game to keep it scoreless.

First, a Jamestown clearing attempt hit the referee allowing Johnstown to transition into a two-on-one inside the Rebels’ zone. Suggs slid across the crease to stop a Tomahawks tap-in. Thirty seconds later, Johnstown’s Zachary Murray powered in front of the Jamestown net from along the goal line, but again Suggs was able to turn aside the chance.

“Suggsy’s been great all year long. He was great in Friday’s practice. … I really felt he was really good in practice this week,” Coombs said. ” … I’m glad because that was about the only decision that I made that I felt was good.”

Early in the second period, Suggs wasn’t as fortunate. After making the first save on a Johnstown shot from the point, the Tomahawks had two chances at a rebound before Holt Oliphant scored the first goal of the game to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, the Rebels answered as defenseman James Miller flung a puck toward the net from the point that Johnstown goaltender Salvatore Evola was unable to find before it got by him tying the game at 1-1.

Jamestown Rebels goaltender Nolan Suggs makes a save during Sunday’s NAHL East Division game against the Johnstown Tomahawks at Northwest Arena. P-J photo by Scott Reagle

Just over three minutes later, Tomahawks captain Jake Black beat Suggs over his right shoulder to give Johnstown a 2-1 lead.

“It was the same guy twice, he never saw the ice again,” Coombs said about the responsible defenseman on both goals. “They came around the net on the first one, and what he was doing? I have absolutely no idea. The second one, it’s him and the goalie and he misses the puck. The next thing you know, it’s in our net. I’ve had enough of him.”

Jamestown tied the game again early in the third period when Lucas Klemm threw another puck at the net from the point and again Evola couldn’t find the puck as it got by his glove hand to make it a 2-2 game.

“The second goal was a great shot by a young player,” Coombs said. “We do teach them to shoot the puck quickly and I thought it was a great job by him.”

The Rebels began to carry the play over the next 10 minutes and eventually were rewarded for it when the line of Marcus Kivela Carlzon, Conor Sedlak and Carter Casper got the puck to the net and a rebound was eventually poked home by Kivela Carlzon for the game-winning goal.

“At the end of the first period I got (upset). … At the end of the second period, I didn’t say anything and didn’t go in the locker room at all,” Coombs said. “Sometimes I just feel like it’s up to the guys in that room to find a way to get it done. There are guys in there that have played a lot of junior hockey.”

The first period ended scoreless as both teams showed signs of what their previous week had entailed. The Tomahawks were coming off back-to-back 4-3 wins over the Generals at home Friday and Saturday before making the 150-mile trip to Jamestown on Sunday morning.

“I thought they had a little bit more juice. It was their third game in two-and-a-half days,” Coombs said. “I fully expected us to come out with an absolute ton of energy. It didn’t happen. It’s just more of the same, unfortunately.”

Jamestown, on the other hand, hadn’t played since splitting with Northeast on Dec. 17-18 at Northwest Arena. The Rebels returned to the ice for three practices earlier this week before Sunday’s game.

“Did I expect us to be crisp and on top of our game? No, I didn’t. Ten days is a long time to be off and that showed,” Coombs said. “I did expect our energy level and our emotional level to be higher than it was.”

Jamestown, which has been unable to string together wins most weekends during the first half of the season, will look to build upon Sunday’s success with a pair of home games Friday and Saturday against the Maine Nordiques.

“We’ve always had good schedules here. This year was a little bit different because there are seven teams in our division and one team isn’t playing each weekend,” Coombs said. “We were lucky to schedule today because otherwise we wouldn’t have played until next week. That’s a long time off.”

NOTES: Reid Lune picked up his fifth assist of the season on Miller’s goal while Casper and Sedlak assisted on Kivela Carlzon’s goal. … Zachary Stoner and Sean Ramsay had assists for Johnstown, which is off until hosting Jamestown on Jan. 14-15 at 1st Summit Arena at Cambria County War Memorial.