ASTON, Penn.– The Johnstown Tomahawks, battled back from a 4-1 deficit on Friday night, but a late goal gave the Aston Rebels a 5-3 win at the Aston Ice Works.
Drew Blackman opened the scoring for Aston, scoring 7:27 into the first period. Ryan Solomon and Kristofers Bundulis each added assists on the power-play goal.
Casey Linkenheld tied the game with a power-play goal at 16:30 of the first period. Alex Alger and Andrew Romano picked up the assists on Linkenheld’s second goal of the season.
Aston closed out the first period with goals scored by Andrew Zerban at 18:25 and Gvido Jansons at 19:55.
The Rebels extended their lead to 4-1, as Victor Bergstrom scored at 9:48 of the second period. Connor Wood and Blackman added assists on the goal.
Brendan Jaquay cut the deficit to 4-2 with his second goal of the season at 16:35 of the second period. Cameron Smith and Anthony Parrucci each added assists on the goal.
Zak Galambos pulled Johnstown back within one, scoring his second goal of the season with 4:27 remaining in regulation. Jaquay added the assist on the goal, giving him his first multi-point game since scoring a goal and adding an assist in the 7-3 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sept. 18.
Dean Balsamo set the final score, scoring with 1:45 remaining in regulation.
Darion Hanson earned the win, stopping 22 of 25 shots. Nick DeSimone took the loss, stopping 18 of 20 shots in relief of starting goaltender Jake Gwillim. Gwillim stopped six of nine shots in the first period.
The Tomahawks close out their weekend road trip with games at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.
###