JOHNSTOWN – The Johnstown Tomahawks (11-8-3) were defeated by a final score of 5-3 at the hands of the Philadelphia Rebels (9-11-4) on Friday night at 1ST SUMMIT Arena. The Rebels were led by Charlie Spencer who recorded a goal and an assist while Emerson Marshall recorded two assists for the Hawks. Nikita Oleksiienko was solid for Johnstown, turning aside 43/48 despite the loss.
Coming off of the electric series sweep over Elmira just a week ago, the Tomahawks were looking to keep the momentum rolling on Friday night in Johnstown. After taking the first penalty of the night just a few minutes in, the Tomahawks quickly found themselves headed to three straight power plays over a five-minute stretch following the first goal of the night from Philadelphia which came about halfway through the period. But it’s become quite the trend lately, the man-advantage remained ice-cold while the penalty kill stayed elite — extending its streak to more than 40 straight kills. Without Zack Ferris between the pipes for the Tomahawks due to his league-suspension for fighting last weekend, rookie goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko was called upon once again to be the backbone for his team. Prior to the Rebels goal at the 10:22 mark, he seemed to be settled in nicely to the game, making several strong stops early, allowing the Tomahawks some time to try and find their game after being suffocated through most of the first period. Philadelphia controlled most of the opening frame, outshooting Johnstown 16–5 and carrying a 1–0 lead into the intermission.
Any time you’re outshot 3-to-1 in a period, it’s rarely a good sign, but in this case, escaping the first down just one kept the Tomahawks within striking distance heading into the second. That hope didn’t last long, though. Just under five minutes into the frame, Philadelphia’s leading scorer, Charlie Spencer, buried his eighth of the year to make it 2–0, making an already quiet building, even quieter. Johnstown continued to struggle generating anything substantial on net, and despite Oleksiienko holding strong, the Rebels kept pressing. Less than three minutes after Spencer’s marker, they added another to stretch the lead to 3–0 and seize full control through about half of the game. At that point, the Tomahawks didn’t have much of a choice but to regroup and remind themselves there was still plenty of hockey left. Whatever Coach Adam Houli said on the bench worked. With a little over 12 minutes remaining in the period, defenseman Kalib Capecci jumped into a two-on-one rush chance and redirected a slick feed home to finally put Johnstown on the board. Emerson Marshall and Shane Tronoski picked up the assists. Momentum is everything in hockey, and now down just two, the only way back is to score the next one. Seven minutes after the Capecci goal, the Tomahawks did exactly that. Nick Jarmain buried his 17th of the year—again set up by Marshall, who recorded his 15th assist of the season—to cut the deficit to 3–2 and helped spark the crowd back to life. And they weren’t done. Less than a minute later, Johnstown kept pressing as Charlie Zetterkvist snapped home his 10th of the season to bring the building to its feet and tie the game at 3–3. Jacob Ingstrup and Reed Richeson collected assists on the goal. Outside of one set of coincidental roughing minors and a late slashing call against Johnstown, the period belonged to momentum swings and goals. Shots in the second were 16–10 Philadelphia, giving them a 32–15 edge through forty minutes.
There was no question that after forty minutes, the Tomahawks had seized every ounce of momentum in the building. But the near 20-minute intermission has the ability to cool a team off, or contrastingly spark the other team and it felt like the surge to end the second stalled a bit to start the third. Not much developed in the opening eight minutes, and at 12:16, Johnstown was whistled for holding. That’s when the incredible penalty-kill streak finally broke. After going a perfect 2-for-2 through two periods, the Tomahawks surrendered their first power-play goal in more than 45 consecutive kills, giving Philadelphia a 4–3 lead. Even when you’re the top PK in the league, taking nearly 4-5 penalties per night will eventually come back to bite you. Just 1:15 after Philadelphia’s go-ahead marker, the Rebels struck again—capitalizing on momentum and burying a backdoor tap-in to stretch it to 5–3, putting a very tough task in front of the Tomahawks for the final ten minutes. Johnstown had a chance to respond quickly, earning a power play of their own less than two minutes later, but their fourth opportunity of the night also came up empty. The Tomahawks got another golden chance moments after the goal, heading back to the power play, but Philadelphia’s goaltender and PK structure stayed firm, denying any dangerous looks. From there, the hill only got steeper. Two penalties in the final six minutes erased any realistic push for a late goal and prevented Johnstown from even setting up a goalie-pull scenario. Outside of Johnstown’s explosive three-goal second period, the Rebels controlled most of the night—dictating pace, owning puck possession, and piling up more than twice as many shots. They closed out a 5–3 win at 1st Summit Arena. Final shots were 48–20 in favor of Philadelphia.
Your Johnstown Tomahawks will be BACK at home TONIGHT on Saturday, November 22nd to host the Philadelphia Rebels after dropping the first game of the series. Get your tickets RIGHT NOW for tonight’s game https://www.ticketmaster.com/johnstown-tomahawks-tickets/artist/1760594. It’s the LAST CALL for BOGO FREE tickets tonight https://www.gofevo.com/group/FallOffer25 Catch all of the action on NAHLTV and follow our social media accounts @tomahawkshockey to keep in the loop.
BY: DREW P. PFEIL