Stampede Fall in Sioux City 6-3
March 20, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Sioux Falls Stampede News Release
Sioux City, IA - Two quick goals to start the second period for the Sioux City Musketeers ended up being the difference in the game as the Stampede fell 6-3 to the Musketeers Friday night at the Tyson Events Center. The Stampede fell to 2-5-0 against the Musketeers this season and saw their lead for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West shrink to four points over the Des Moines Buccaneers. The Stampede (27-20-5) got goals from Kieffer Bellows, Parker Tuomie and Ryan Schwalbe while Stefanos Lekkas took the loss in goal, stopping 11 of 16 shots. Art Brey stopped all 14 shots faced in relief for the Herd who are now 12-14-2 on the road this season.
In a wild and crazy first period, the Musketeers (33-16-5) registered the first goal of the game 6:55 on a goal from Joel Janatuinen. Sioux Falls responded at 15:25 when Kieffer Bellows tallied his 29th goal of the season on a second chance shot. He took a pass in the slot from Cooper Marody and wristed a shot that was stopped, but quickly picked up the rebound and through the pads of Musketeers goaltender Cam Gornet. 15 seconds later the Musketeers regained the lead when Sam Kurker wristed a shot from the left circle past the glove side of Stampede goaltender Stefanos Lekkas to make it a 2-1 game. Less than two minutes later Sioux Falls once again tied the game when Parker Tuomie picked up a loose puck on the side of the Musketeers net and backhanded it past Gornet. The scoring wasn't done in the period though as Sioux City went on the power play in the final minute and scored with 48 seconds left on a blast from Robert Carpenter to take a 3-2 lead into the locker room. Sioux City outshot the Herd 14-12 in the period.
The Herd began the second period on the power play, but it would be the Musketeers taking advantage just 25 seconds into the period when Joe Snivley brought the puck down the right wing boards and wristed a shot past the stick side of Lekkas to give the Musketeers a 4-2 lead. Adam Johnson extended the Muskies lead less than two minutes later when he danced around the Stampede defense and then took the puck behind the Herd net before wrapping it perfectly into the net past the left pad of Lekkas to make it a 5-2 game. That would be it for Lekkas who was replaced by Art Brey. Brey came in and made 10 saves in the period, keeping the Musketeers off the board, but Sioux Falls was able to muster anything past Gornet and trailed Sioux City 5-2 at the end of 40 minutes. Sioux Falls outshot Sioux City 18-12 in the period.
Sioux Falls made things interesting just 56 seconds into the third when Ryan Schwalbe scored shorthanded. Schwalbe raced after a loose puck down the right wing boards and took a shot from the far right corner along the goal line, but was able to find a hole past Gornet to pull the Herd back within two goals at 5-3. The Herd completely dominated the rest of the third period, putting the Musketeers on the heel of their skates, but could not get the bounce they needed to pull within one. Sioux Falls registered several quality scoring chances and even outshot the Musketeers 13-5 in the period, but Sioux City sealed the game with an empty net goal in the final seconds to earn a 6-3 win.
Sioux Falls outshot Sioux City 43-31 on the night and went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Musketeers finished the night 1-for-4 with the advantage.
Sioux Falls will now make the long trip to Chicago to face the Steel on Saturday. Game time is 7:05 PM and can be heard on KELO News Talk 1320-AM, 107.9-FM and online at kelo.com starting at 6:40 PM. It will be the final game of a 10-game road trip that started February 27th.
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