It was a rather ugly affair in Ralston, NE Friday night, as the Omaha Lancers scored two goals in each of the three periods in their doubling up of the Sioux Falls Stampede 6-3. The game was marred by 19 power-play opportunities, which led to four power-play goals and a short-handed one in the victory by the home team.

Omaha grabbed the quick lead just 1:54 into the contest. Derek Hamelin carried the punk into the Sioux Falls end, stopping near the right face-off circle. He then wristed a shot that went over the shoulder of Stampede goalie Jeremy Swayman’s and into the net to make it 1-0.

A little less than eight minutes later Vitaliy Novytskyy was sitting in the penalty box for tripping and the Lancers were forcing the issue in the Stampede end. Marcus Bjork made a great pass to Alex Mehnert who fired the shot for the goal to make it 2-0.

Two-minutes later the Stampede were on a 5-3 power-play. This was the chance for Sioux Falls to get back into the game and they delivered. Alex Stevens fired a blast form the point that Austin Albrecht redirected into the net for his second goal of the year. That made it 2-1 which would be the score heading into the break.

The first period saw nine penalties but the second would be no different. Just forty seconds into the second frame both teams took a penalty when Alex Stevens and Pierce Crawford got into a scrape and were both penalized for fighting. With the two teams playing 4-on-4, Omaha took advantage. Zac Herrmann’s shot was stopped by Swayman, but Jacob Paganelli was Johnny on the spot, putting back the rebound to make it 3-1.

Just 12-seconds later the Stampede would take an interference penalty and Omaha would score again. Michael Joyaux fired a shot that was off target, but the puck bounced off the boards and right in front of the net where Emilio Petterson put it in to make it 4-1.

In the third the home team would extend their lead. At the 4:26 mark Connor Marshall netted his first goal of the season to make it 5-1, A mere 26 ticks of the clock went by when the Stampede were back killing off a penalty again. The Lancers wasted no time with the man-advantage, getting a goal from Brannon McManus just 19 seconds into the power-play.

With a little over 10 minutes left in the game the Stampede would finally get on the board. Sioux Falls was attempting to kill off another man advantage when Jason O’Neil got control of the puck. He carried it into the Omaha end leading a 2-1 break, then fired a shot that beat Peter Thome to make it 6-2.

With just one-second left in the game and the Stampede pressing the attack they would net one more goal. Novytskyy’s shot found its way under Thome’s pads and into the net for the final goal of the contest.

The Sioux Falls Stampede finished the night with 15 penalties to Omaha’s 11. Albrecht continues his hot start for Sioux Falls, scoring a goal and adding an assist. Omaha got two points form Bjork and Marshall, who each had a goal and an assist.

Saturday night the Stampede travel to Sioux City to take on the Musketeers. The puck drops at 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier