KEARNEY, NE (KELO.com) — The Sioux Falls Stampede put up a good fight against the Tri-City Storm on Saturday night in the second of a back-to-back at the Viaero Center, but ultimately couldn’t complete the comeback and fell 5-4. Daniel Russell, Max Rud, and Ryan Healey all had a goal and an assist on the night while Stampede netminder Noah Grannan stopped 24 of 29 shots between the pipes.
The Stampede immediately got off to a better start than the night before, tallying the all-important first goal of the night at 1:04 in the first period. Sam Harris took a rolling puck off a Tri-City stick at the blue line and quickly fired it toward the Storm netminder, beating him left-pad side for his 13th goal of the season. Tri-City would answer back at 7:16 with a tally from Ilya Nikolaev, and Kieran Cebrian would make it 2-1 just 39 seconds later. The Herd had an immediate response as Ryan Healey wristed the puck through traffic from the right point to find the back of the net at 8:12, his fourth goal of the year. Sioux Falls was outshot 13-8 in the period.
Sioux Falls picked up where they left off in the second, with Max Rud firing a shot from the left circle and through some skates for a power play goal to give the Stampede a 1-goal lead at 3:45 in the period for his third goal of the season. Tri-City answered back just 30 seconds later, and would add two more tallies before the period was over to make it a 5-3 game. Tri-City outshot Sioux Falls 12-11 in the period.
In the dying minutes of the third period, the Herd began to rally back after pulling their goaltender for the extra attacker. Daniel Russell brought the Stampede within one goal at 18:21 in the period for his 16th goal of the year, scoring quickly off of the faceoff in the slot. They weren’t able to tally the equalizer, falling 5-4 to the Storm.
Sioux Falls outshot Tri-City 12-4 in the third period and 31-29 in the game. They went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Storm were 2-for-5.
Sioux Falls finish off their weekend this afternoon in Sioux City to face the Musketeers at 3:05 PM. They’ll be back on home ice next Friday for Beef Night presented by South Dakota Beef and Star Wars Night on Saturday, presented by Dental Solutions. Fans can tune into KELO News Talk 1320-AM, 105.1-FM, 107.9-FM, and KELO.com, or stream the action on HockeyTV.
