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‘No Way To Lose’

Rebels Give Up Two Late Goals, Fall At New Jersey 3-2; East Division Finals Even At One Game Apiece

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — The Jamestown Rebels had a 2-0 series lead within reach.

But the top-seeded New Jersey Titans scored twice in the final 3:40 to beat the third-seeded Rebels 3-2 in Game 2 of the North American Hockey League East Division finals Saturday at Middletown Ice World Arena.

“That was no way to lose a hockey game,” Jamestown head coach Joe Coombs said postgame.

Jamestown scored twice in the second period to turn a 1-0 deficit into a one-goal lead. For much of the third period, the Rebels contained the Titans, but never looked like they were a threat to expand their lead.

“I didn’t think we deserved to even be where we were,” Coombs said of the one-goal lead.

Then, with 3:40 remaining New Jersey tied the game. A loose puck found its way into the slot in front of the Jamestown net. With no Rebels player in the area to clear it to safety, goaltender Nolan Suggs attempted to poke check the puck away. He partially fanned on it and the Titans’ Ryan Coughlin was the beneficiary as he shot the puck into the empty net to make it a 2-2 game.

When asked if Suggs may have been trying to do too much, Coombs said “100 percent.”

The jolt of energy was just what New Jersey needed and with 45 seconds left, the Titans capitalized again. Jamestown’s Noah Szretter failed to get the puck out of the zone along the boards and Nick Ring was able to find an open Stephen Willey streaking toward the Rebels’ goal. The New Jersey captain deked from his forehand to his backhand and beat Suggs with what turned out to be the game-winning and series-tying goal.

“We were in position to win the hockey game with four minutes left … then it was just more of the same,” Coombs said. “You coach a hockey team to take a step forward. Every time they take a step forward, they take a step backward.”

The Titans opened the scoring just past the midway point of the first period when Levente Keresztes scored a goal that Suggs would like to have back as a wrist shot beat the White Lake, Michigan native past his glove hand.

“We let in three goals this weekend that should’ve never gone in the net,” Coombs said.

Jamestown tied the game with 16:26 left in the second period. With Ryan Waltman parked to the side of New Jersey goaltender Andrew Takacs, Szretter lofted a wrist shot toward the net. Just before the puck reached Takacs, it appeared a Titans defender obscured his own goaltender’s vision and the puck found the back of the net.

The Rebels went up 2-1 just over three minutes later. Again Szretter got a puck through from the point and Waltman tapped the rebound toward the front of the net where a waiting Kolby Amici poked it home for his third goal of the playoffs.

But Jamestown was never able to increase its lead and allowed New Jersey back in the series with two late goals.

“It just goes back to one good game, one bad game,” Coombs said of a stretch of the season that saw the Rebels struggle to win back-to-back games. “I don’t think they want to understand or learn how to win back-to-back games.”

Now the best-of-five series shifts to Northwest Arena for a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday puck drop. Game 4 will be at 7 p.m. Friday in Jamestown with an if-necessary Game 5 back in Middletown next Sunday at 7 p.m.

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