KEARNEY, NE -- Tony Calderone’s goal with 1:17 left in regulation tied the game 2-2, but the Sioux Falls Stampede came up on the short end of a five-round shootout and fell 3-2 to the Tri-City Storm Friday night in the first of two games this weekend at the Viaero Event Center.

The Herd (21-12-4) earned a point in the shootout loss and pulled within two points of third place Sioux City in the Western Conference.

Keith Burchett scored the Herd’s other goal in regulation while David Jacobson stopped 33 of 35 shots in goal for the Herd who are 1-5-2 in their last eight games.

After a scoreless first period in which the Storm outshot the Herd 10-8, the Stampede registered the first goal of the game 4:03 into the second when Burchett tallied his 13th goal of the season. Newly acquired defenseman Garrett Cecere earned the assist on the goal as he held the puck inside the right circle and waited patiently for Burchett who was wide open inside the left circle and one-timed the pass past Tri-City goaltender Hayden Lavigne to make 1-0.

Just two minutes later things got a bit ugly as off a face-off, Stampede forward Dennis Kravchenko was mugged by Storm center Drew Mayer which created several fights at one time. Mayer and Jalen Schulz were sent to the showers while Ed McGovern and C.J. Franklin were also sent off early. Franklin was given a fighting major and game misconduct while McGovern was handed a game ejection after being the third man in on a fight. The mess resulted in the Stampede having a five minute 5-on-4 power play, but the Herd were unable to muster anything on the advantage for the rest of the period and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Tri-City controlled much of the third period and evened the score at 4:09 when Chris Wilkie took a pass from Christian Horn in the left corner and beat Jacobson through the pads to tie the game 1-1. It stayed that way until 16:07 when Wilkie struck again, this time a shot from the right point went off a Stampede leg and past Jacobson to give the Storm a 2-1 advantage. The Herd would pull Jacobson in the final two minutes for an extra attacker and it paid off with 1:17 remaining when Calderone picked up a loose rebound and backhanded it into the back of the net to tie the game 2-2.

The Herd would benefit from a too many men on the ice penalty against the Storm in the final seconds of regulation and had 1:53 of a 4-on-3 advantage to begin overtime. The Herd controlled play during the whole power play, but couldn’t get the bounce they needed and were unable to score. The game would eventually go to a shootout where the Herd got a goal in round 1 from Kravchenko, but the Storm tied it in round 3 on a goal from Wilkie. The Herd were unable to score in round 4 and 5 and the Storm took the game in the fifth round when Daniel Labosky backhanded a shot past Jacobson’s glove side to earn the victory, 3-2.

The Storm outshot the Stampede 36-30 and went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Stampede were 0-for-3. These two teams will meet again in the second game of the weekend series on Saturday at 7:05 PM

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Stampede

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