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Charlie Lindgren stopped 31 shots to earn his franchise record 32nd win of the season as the Stampede topped the Lincoln Stars, 2-1 Friday night at the Ice Box. The win was the Stampede’s seventh straight on the road and sixth straight overall as they improved to 41-14-2 and stayed nine points ahead of Fargo for first place in the West and one point behind Dubuque in the race for the Anderson Cup. Thomas Forgione and Dennis Karvchenko both scored for the Herd.
The Stars wasted little time getting on the board, scoring just 2:31 into the contest. Phillip Marinaccio wristed a shot in the slot that was stopped by the left pad of Stampede goaltender Charlie Lindgren, but the rebound went to Riley Bourbonnais knocked in the rebound to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Things settled down after that goal as both teams exchanged scoring opportunities, but neither team would find the back of the net as the Stars took a 1-0 lead into the locker room while outshooting the Herd 14-9.
The Herd got back in the game just 44 seconds into the period when Thomas Forgione tallied his 22nd goal of the season. Ryan Siiro started the play by keeping the puck deep inside the Lincoln zone before finding Dennis Kravchenko who skated inside the slot before sliding the puck to Forgione on the edge of the right circle who then wristed the puck past Lincoln goaltender Michael Bitzer. Lincoln went on a four minute powerplay when Kravchenko was flagged for high sticking midway through the period, but Sioux Falls limited the Stars scoring chances and kept them off the board.
The game remained tied until the final minute of the second when Kravchenko put away his 20th goal of the season with just 49 seconds remaining. The Herd put a flurry of shots on goal before Forgione was able to find Kravchenko to the left of Bitzer and Kravchenko backhanded the puck past Bitzer’s glove side to give the Herd a 2-1 lead after two periods. It marked the fourth straight game the Herd have scored late in the second period to take a lead into the third.
In the final period, the game went back-and-forth with both teams exchanging chances, but the Herd continued to hold the lead. The Stars pulled their goaltender in the final minute, but were unable to get a final shot off before the horn sounded and the Stampede held on for the win.
Lincoln outshot the Stampede 32 to 31 and went 0-for-5 on the powerplay while the Stampede went 0-for-3. Sioux Falls will look to extend their winning streak Saturday night when they travel to Kearney to take on Tri-City at 7:05 PM. Fans can listen live on KELO News Talk 1320, 107.9.
Courtesy: Jim Olander, Vice President Broadcast & Communications, Sioux Falls Stampede Hockey
