Gameday Preview
March 18, 2023 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release
STARS vs. LANCERS
When: Saturday, March 10 at 7:05 p.m.
Where: Ice Box
Tickets: t.co/u1sC2M8QO5
Watch: Flo Hockey (flohockey.tv/live/46063)
Listen: Mixlr (mixlr.com/lincoln-stars)
LINCOLN (29-18-3)
The Stars have won three-in-a-row after shutting out the Des Moines Buccaneers, 3-0, on the road last night. Cameron Whitehead recorded his fourth shutout of the season by stopping all 21 shots faced and Keaton Peters, Doug Grimes and Patrick Raftery all scored. The Stars were only up one with just over three minutes to go in regulation but Grimes scored on the power play and Raftery added an empty-netter.
Lincoln won both games last weekend against Omaha, albeit in two different ways. The Stars opened up the home-and-home series with a 5-1 win at the Ice Box in a game that they never trailed. Klavs Veinbergs scored twice for his second multi-goal game of the season and the Stars won their 16th game at the Ice Box. Omaha took a 3-1 lead into the third period the next night but Doug Grimes and Tanner Ludtke scored in the final 20 minutes to force overtime. Neither team scored during three-on-three play and Antonio Fernandez scored the only goal of the shootout, his third of the season.
OMAHA (14-26-5-3)
The Lancers snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 win at home over Sioux Falls. Omaha scored three times on the power play and Michael Hrabal stopped 25 shots to earn his first win since Dec. 31. Vincent Salice led all Lancers skaters with two points, assisting on each of the final two goals.
Omaha has dropped each of the last five games against Lincoln in the season series and sits last in the Western Conference with 34 points. The Lancers still hold the third-best penalty kill in the USHL at 83.3-percent, but that number drops to 75.9-percent against the Stars. Omaha has also surrendered four-or-more goals to the Stars in four-of-six meetings in the season series.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Scoreboard Watching: Everything went the way that the Stars would have liked last night as the Waterloo Black Hawks fell to the Fargo Force, 4-3, and the Sioux City Musketeers snapped the Tri-City Storm's eight-game winning streak with a 6-2 win. Lincoln is four points behind Waterloo for second place in the West and a first-round playoff bye while Tri-City is four points back of Lincoln. Fargo hosts Waterloo again tonight at 6:05 while Sioux City takes on Tri-City at 7:05.
Shorthanded Tallies: The Stars are third in the USHL with nine shorthanded goals and have scored four of them this month. All of the shorthanded tallies have come in Lincoln's last 30 games after they did not score any in the first 20 games of the season. The Stars' success at generating offense down a skater has helped them lead the USHL with an 85-percent penalty kill.
Milestone Watch: Stars forward Daniel Sambuco is set to appear in his 100th USHL game tonight. His 45 games played with the Stars prior to tonight are the most that he has played with any team in his four-year USHL career. Sambuco also has a career-high 16 points (9+7) with the Stars. The Springfield, Penn. native began his career with a pair of games for the Madison Capitols in 2019-20, suited up three times for Team USA in 2020-21 and then split 2021-22 between Madison (28 games) and Waterloo (21 games).
United States Hockey League Stories from March 18, 2023
- Stars Win Seventh of Season vs. Omaha - Lincoln Stars
- Steel Earn Gritty 3-2 Victory Over Dubuque Saturday - Chicago Steel
- Gamblers Fall to Team USA to Split Home Series - Green Bay Gamblers
- The Aftermath: Storm Drops Overtime Thriller to Musketeers - Tri-City Storm
- Overtime Thriller Gives Muskies Win - Sioux City Musketeers
- Hawks Deliver Emphatic Finish - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Jacks Fall in Big Way to USNTDP U18s 10-0 - Muskegon Lumberjacks
- Storm Set for Kool-Aid Night - Tri-City Storm
- Dupaco Giveaway & Postgame Skate Sunday - Des Moines Buccaneers
- Gameday Preview - Lincoln Stars
- Whitehead Shuts Out Des Moines - Lincoln Stars
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