Hard way to end the regular season....
Lincoln - The Omaha Lancers' rally fell just short Saturday night in a 4-3 overtime shootout loss against the Lincoln Stars.
The Lancers trailed 3-0 entering the final period but scored three straight goals to tie the game. After a scoreless five-minute overtime, the Stars
prevailed by winning the penalty-shot format overtime shootout.
"I thought we showed something, coming back the way we did," Omaha Coach Mike Hastings said. "We
got buzzed pretty good in the first period, but I thought we played pretty well after that."
It was the final game of the regular season for the Lancers, who will open the best-of-five playoffs Friday night at home against Des Moines. Omaha finished with a 35-15-6 record and 76 points, good for third place in the West Division of the United States Hockey League.
The Stars, who have lost only once in regulation at home this season, finished with a 43-7-6 record
and 92 points. Lincoln won the Anderson Cup as the USHL's regular-season champion and will have
home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Lincoln, which rallied to beat Omaha 5-3 on Friday night, grabbed the early lead Saturday night when
Ken Scuderi scored 7:26 into the game. Nick Fouts scored six minutes later to give the Stars a 2-0
advantage after the first period.
Lincoln's Chris Fournier, who leads the league in scoring, notched the only goal of the second period.
The score stayed that way until Omaha's Aaron Slattengren pushed a shot past goalie Beau Fritz 4:12 into the final period.
Defenseman Lee Green drew the Lancers within 3-2 with 5:49 left, and defenseman Chris Harrington
tied the game with a power-play goal three minutes later.
After a scoreless overtime, Omaha's Yan Stastny and Fournier scored in the best-of-five shootout. The next four Lancers were unsuccessful and the next three Stars' players also failed, but Lincoln's Jeff Van Dyke ended the game as the sixth shooter when he put a shot past Omaha goalie Ray Fraser.
The Stars will open the playoffs against Sioux City.
Omaha 0030-3
Lincoln 2101-4
First period-Scoring: 1, Lincoln, Scuderi (Bochenski, Fournier), power play, 7:26. 2, Lincoln, Fouts(Guyer, Young), 13:07. Penalties: Omaha, 3-17; Lincoln, 1-5.
Second period-Scoring: 3, Lincoln, Fournier (Bochenski, Dore), 19:48. Penalties: Omaha, 3-6;
Lincoln, 4-8.
Third period-Scoring: 4, Omaha, Slattengren (Riddell, Welch), 4:12. 5, Omaha, Green (Ronkowski,Riddell), 14:11. 6, Omaha, Harrington (Riddell, Ballard), 17:44. Penalties: Omaha, 1-2; Lincoln, 2-4.
Overtime-No scoring. Penalties: Lincoln, 1-2.
Shots on goal:
Omaha 95143-31
Lincoln 141293-38
Goalies: Omaha, Fraser (35 saves); Lincoln, Fritz(28 saves)
Power-play conversions: Omaha, 1-5; Lincoln, 1-3.
A: 5,010
