It has been a tough early start to the season, but Mikhail Berdin has been a huge bright spot for the Sioux Falls Stampede. The goalie has been nothing short of brilliant through the first two months of the season, and his skills were on display Friday night as the netminder stopped 32-shots for his first career shutout in the 2-0 win over the Des Moines Buccaneers. That gave the Stampede their fourth straight win at home.

The first period was dominated by the Buccaneers for the most part, as they outshot the Stampede 11-5. However, neither team could find the back of the net as both Berdin and Jake Kucharski looked sharp early on.

In the second period, the Sioux Falls Stampede would take the lead. At the 6:30 mark with the Stampede on the power-play, Austin Albrecht passed to Alex Stevens who shoveled a pass across the crease area to a waiting Jason O’Neill, who tapped the puck in for his eighth goal of the season.

A little less than four minutes later it would be O’Neill again. Albrecht would set up the play again, passing up the boards to Paul DeNaples who controlled the puck around the net and passed out to the right circle to a waiting O’Neil, who wristed a shot past Kucharski to make it 2-0. The Buccaneers outshot Sioux Falls in the period 10-8, but O’Neil was the star of the period.

Just before the second period ended, Des Moines went on a 5-on-3 power-play but came away empty-handed. Berdin was simply not letting anything past him as he would stop 11-shots in the third period to complete the shutout.

The victory moved the Sioux Falls Stampede to 9-11-1 on the season. Albrecht had 2-assists, and O’Neill scored both goals. However, it was Mikhail Berdin who was the star on the night. The goalie stopped all 32-shots he faced, which included double-digit shots against him in each period.

Tomorrow night, the Stampede welcome the Omaha Lancers to town. The puck drops at 7:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier