Stars Rally for 5-3 Win Over Lancers
The Lincoln Stars aren't league champs for nothing, a point the Omaha Lancers found out the hard way.
The visiting Stars roared back in the third period with four straight goals to beat the Lancers 5-3 Friday night. The loss guarantees that third-place Omaha, which has one game left in the regular season, will open the playoffs next week against fourth-place Des Moines.
Omaha appeared to have the game under control,
opening a 3-0 lead midway through the second period.
But the Stars, who clinched the Anderson Cup last
week as regular-season champions of the United
States Hockey League, refused to fold.
A power-play goal with 9:07 left in the second period got Lincoln on the board, and the Stars took advantage of Omaha penalties in the third period to really get rolling.
The big blow came when forward Jake Fleming was
whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty with 14:50 left in the game while the Lancers
were already killing off another penalty.
"That penalty was like pushing a snowball at the top of a hill," Omaha Coach Mike Hastings
said. "I'm a big believer in letting a sleeping giant sleep, and that really woke them up."
Forward Brandon Bochenski, who leads the USHL in
goals, scored his 47th with 13:48 left while the Stars had a two-man advantage. Lincoln defenseman
Anthony D'Arpino then tied the game with 7:02
remaining, tapping a rebound past Omaha goalie Ray
Fraser.
With Omaha still reeling, forward Trevor Frischmon
scored what proved to be the game winner 35 seconds later. He took a pass from Preston Callander near the Omaha net and deflected it past Fraser.
"I thought their guys showed a real hunger to score on those two goals," Hastings said. "We had people draped all over them and they were still able to score."
The Stars capped the victory, their team-record 42nd of the season, when John Snowden scored an empty-net goal from center ice with 14 seconds left.
"We got outplayed badly for two periods," said Lincoln Coach Steve Johnson. "We didn't look like we belonged in the same league as Omaha. But we got some good bounces and (goalie Justin) Johnson
kept us in the game."
Johnson made 29 saves, but none bigger than the one he made on Omaha's Dan Hacker with 3:37 left. With the Lancers trailing just 4-3, Johnson made a glove save on Hacker's low shot headed for the corner of the net.
Omaha had grabbed a two-goal lead in the first period on the strength of power-play goals by
Keith Ballard and Dan Welch. Ballard leads all USHL defensemen with 22 goals while Welch netted his 30th of the season, tying him with Riley Riddell for the team lead.
A goal by defenseman Jeremy Downs with 11:28 left in the second period made the score 3-0. Downs was playing his first game since Feb. 23 when he suffered a high ankle sprain against Cedar Rapids.
Friday's loss, played in front of 5,435 (5,908 paid) at Ak-Sar-Ben, bore an eerie resemblance to
a home loss suffered two weeks ago against Sioux Falls. The Lancers were also cruising with a 3-1 lead in that game, only to surrender four goals in the third period in a 5-3 setback.
The Lancers close the regular season tonight with a rematch against the Stars at 7:05 in Lincoln.
Lincoln 0 1 4-5
Omaha 2 1 0-3
Goalies: Lincoln, Johnson (29 saves); Omaha, Fraser (21 saves)
