After Thursday night’s game against the Fargo Force, the Sioux Falls Stampede have to be glad that they will not have another contest on Thursday until February. The rare mid-week affair saw Matthew Murray blank the Stampede and Shane McMahan score a hat trick to lead the Force to a 6-0 victory that dropped Sioux Falls to 5-8-0-1.

The Fargo Force took control of this game right away. McMahan got the Force going right off, scoring his first goal of the season just 1:46 into the contest. McMahan would force a mistake by the Stampede when he was able to intercept a clearing pass out of the Sioux Falls zone, gaining control of the puck and then wristing it past Mikhail Berdin to give the Force the early 1-0 lead.

It would stay that way until the 17:48 mark when McMahan would add his second unassisted goal of the game. This time a mad scramble for the puck ensued in front of the Sioux Falls net and McMahan would jam it home to give his team a 2-0 lead.

With just 1:03 left in the first period, the Force would strike again. Bradley Johnson took a wrist shot that Berdin made a nice play on, but Odeen Tufto tucked the puck into the net on the rebound for his first goal of the season to make it a three-goal advantage for Fargo.

The period was dominated by the Force in every way as they not only outscored Sioux Falls but outshot them as well, 21-10. In the second period the Stampede came out fired up and outshot Fargo 14-7, but it would be the visitors who would add to their lead. McMahan had been a nemesis in the Stampede end all night and that did not change in the second frame. He would gain control of the puck when he took it away from a Sioux Falls player. Moving from the left face-off circle, the forward cut toward the slot then back-handed a shot that went over the shoulder of the Sioux Falls goalie and into the net for the hat trick. McMahan had been held scoreless in his first three games of the season, but he clearly had the right stuff for this night.

Staked to a four-goal lead, Murray just dominated between the pipes. He stopped everything the Stampede threw at him, and left very few rebound opportunities. Sioux Falls had not answers for the Force goalie on this night.

In the third period the Fargo Force would simply put the game away. At the 4:08 mark of the period, Tufto fired a shot on net that Martin Sunberg deflected for the goal.  That was Sundberg’s third goal of the season. A little less than 10 minutes later the Force would be back on the scoreboard. This time it was Jack Adams with the goal. Hank Crone fed Adams with a perfect pass out of the Force end, sending him on a breakaway. Adams made a nice move to beat Berdin for his 11th goal of the season to make it 6-0. That would be the final.

Besides the 3-goals by McMahan, Tufto had a goal and an assist. Murray was absolutely dominant in net, stopping all 30-shots he faced.

The Sioux Falls Stampede look to rebound Friday night when they travel to Nebraska to take on the Omaha Lancer. The puck drops at 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier