Stampede Win Streak Snapped By Omaha

SIOUX FALLS, SD -- Three early Omaha Lancer goals in the first period gave the team from Nebraska all they would need to subdue the Sioux Falls Stampede 4-2 at the Arena Friday night.

Gage Hough had two goals for the Lancers (33-25-1) while goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 38 of 40 Herd shots.  Sam Rothstein and Dennis Kravchenko lit the lamp for Sioux Falls (42-15-2), who are seven points ahead of Fargo for first place in the Western Conference with five games remaining.  The loss snapped the Herd’s seven game win streak and dropped the Herd to 2-5-0 against the Lancers this season.

“We’re facing desperate teams that have their backs against the wall,” said head coach Cary Eades, who will have to wait another night for his 100th career USHL win.  “Omaha had some real urgency to start the game.  They built a lead and were able to hold on.”

Lancer winger Gage Hough initiated the scoring with his first two goals of the period 8:03 into the young game.  The slow start for the Herd continued as two more Omaha scores within 26 seconds of each other tripled the deficit, with Hough taking credit for the final one as 5:46 remained on the clock.  Hough’s  goal signaled the end of the night for Lindgren, as David Jacobson came in relief of the second-year netminder.

“To get down like that, it’s going to be tough to win,” said center Sam Rothstein.  “It’s a pretty frustrating loss.”

Things didn’t get any easier for the Herd in the second as Grant Besse knocked a wrist shot from the left circle in past Jacobson to make it a sizeable 4-0 advantage.  Sioux Falls had a chance to take a chunk out of the lead with a power play at 14:03 following a fight, but the best penalty-killing unit in the USHL had no trouble stopping the opportunity.  This was nothing new to the Herd, who haven’t scored a goal on the man advantage at home since Jan. 9 in a game against the Waterloo Black Hawks.

“I thought our power play did well, but we just couldn’t convert,” said Rothstein. “We just have to keep getting pucks to the net.”

Sioux Falls finally found the scoreboard with 2:27 remaining in the second courtesy of a smooth score by Rothstein.  The Colorado College recruit stymied Omaha netminder Alex Lyon with a stylish backhand maneuver, Rothstein’s 18th goal of the soon-to-be over regular season.

The momentum stayed on the Herd’s side early in the final period as they chopped the lead down to 4-2 after a quick wrist shot via Dennis Kravchenko from the left circle.  However, the Herd were unable to capitalize on three more power plays the rest of the period and fell to an opponent for the first time in eight games.

The Herd spend four of their last five games at the Sioux Falls Arena and will return Saturday night at 7:05 to face the Lincoln Stars.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Stampede