Preview - Stars at Lancers
February 2, 2019 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release
FRIDAY, FEB. 2, 2019 | 7:05 P.M. | RALSTON ARENA
RADIO: LINCOLN STARS RADIO | WATCH: HOCKEYTV
Tonight's Contest:
The Stars (10-24-3-2) will continue on their four-game road trip with a stop in Omaha to meet the arch rival Lancers (12-19-2-4) at the Ralston Arena.
Last Game:
In search of their third-straight win, the Stars traveled up to South Dakota to take on the Sioux Falls Stampede Friday night. Lincoln came out a hair off in the first, and paid for two early mistakes. The first saw Ethan Phillips work free in front of Samuel Hlavaj on the Stampede's very first offensive shift of the game. Austen Swankler extended his point streak to five games by feeding Phillips for the 1-0 lead. Anthony Romano picked up the secondary helper. The Stars then mounted a power play effort that saw a large amount of zone time, but just missed generating a goal after Tristan Ashbrook rang the post with a shot attempt. Not long after, Sioux Falls built their lead following Jami Krannila's takeaway at the top of the Stars zone. The Finnish forward surged ahead to bury a breakaway goal. Lincoln pushed throughout the rest of the period, out-shooting the Stampede 8-6, but couldn't solve Jaxson Stauber and went to first intermission down 2-0. Sioux Falls took command of the first half of the second period. At 6:14, Ryan Johnson worked his way down from the blue line uncovered and buried a Krannila feed for the 3-0 lead. At 10:24 a slow Stars line change allowed the Stampede a 3-on-2, giving the space to Cade Bordcardt and Artem Ivanyuzhenkov to complete a give-and-go through in which the latter buried the puck for a 4-0 advantage. The Stars responded at 15:05. Following an icing, a timeout was called by the Stars bench to draw up a play. It worked to perfection. Tristan Ashbrook won a clean draw back to Ryan Carmichael. Carmichael fed the puck to the corner where Michael Colella sent a cross-ice feed to a crashing Jordan Power. Power ripped the puck through for his second goal of the season, putting the Stars on the board. Lincoln pushed through the end of the frame, but took a penalty in the final minute, leaving 1:36 of carryover power play time for Sioux Falls heading into the third. In the final frame, the Stars saw momentum slip away when Ryan Sullivan scored a shorthanded goal at 6:26. The Stars briefly brought pushed back when Matt Barbolini scored a shorthanded goal off a takeaway he forced along the Sioux Falls wall for his fifth tally of the season. A quick push that followed for the Stars was stymied by Jaxson Stauber and, allowing the Stampede to grind out the rest of the clock, securing a 5-2 winOmaha hosted the Madison Capitols on Friday, beating them 5-1. Through most of the first period, goalies Joseph Lamoreaux and Akira Schmid traded saves without faltering. The Capitols managed just five shots in the opening frame, while Omaha put 12 on net. Their last turned out to be their best, as Jaxon Nelson buried his seventh tally of the year on a power play at 19:53. Spurred on by the end-of-frame strike, the Lancers added two more in the first three minutes of the second. Grant Anderson made it 2-0 at 1:03, followed by recent Miami commit Brian Silver notching his fourth of the year at 2:42. The 3-0 Omaha lead carried into the third, where the Caps finally cracked the goose egg. At 1:33 Lucas Hermann beat Schmid off of assists from Chase Brand and former Lancer Kalle Eriksson to trim the deficit to two. Omaha would buckle down and would not yield another tally despite Madison managing 11 more shots in the frame. Brian Silver and Chase Bradley added insurance scores at 15:52 and 19:12. At the horn, the Lancers skated off with a 5-1 victory.
Head-to-Head:
In their last meeting on January 19th, the Stars and Lancers played an even first 40 minutes in Omaha. The pair traded goals in the first with Samuli Niinisaari beating Jon Mor from the slot at 5:06. The Lancers would respond with Harrison Roy putting a puck past Samuel Hlavaj at 17:29. A scoreless second saw Hlavaj and Mor exchange impressive saves while each team failed to bury quality chances. In the third, the Stars appeared to take command with Tristan Ashbrook's goal just over a minute into the period. Omaha would answer back less than a minute later after Jaxon Nelson notched a shorthanded tally. The goal set off an avalanche. Tyler Carpenter scored twice at 3:08 and 3:29 to swing Omaha ahead 4-2, with the second chasing Hlavaj in favor of Mucitelli. Nelson would strike again at 13:53, while Grant Anderson would add insult to injury at 19:38 and Omaha would skate off with the 6-2 win. They lead the season series 3-1, though the Stars have points in two overtime losses.
Team Stats:
GF: LIN-2.77 (15th) to OMA-2.51(16th)
GA: OMA-3.59 (t-11th) to LIN-3.79 (15th)
Shots For/G: OMA-28.73 (9th) to LIN-28.38 (11th)
Shots Against/G: OMA-30.16 (12th) to LIN-30.28 (13th)
PP: OMA-21/109, 19.3% (9th) to LIN-25/161, 15.5% (15th), SHGA: OMA-5 (t-9th) to LIN-8 (t-16th)
PK: LIN-127/153, 83.0% (3rd) to OMA-102/132, 77.3% (14th), SHGF: LIN-2 (t-15th) to OMA-2 (t-15th)
Leading Scorers:
G: LIN-Caleb Rule 12, OMA-Tyler Carpenter and Harrison Roy 8
A: LIN-Brock Bremer 14, OMA-Travis Mitchell 13
TP: LIN-Brock Bremer 25, OMA-Jaxon Nelson 18
Goalies:
W: OMA-Jon Mor 6, LIN-Jacob Mucitelli 3
GAA: OMA-Akira Schmid 2.57, LIN-Jacob Mucitelli 3.64
SV%: OMA-Akira Schmid .911, LIN-Samuel Hlavaj .873
SO: OMA-Akira Schmid 1, LIN-Jacob Mucitelli 1
MIN: OMA-Jon Mor 996 LIN-Jacob Mucitelli 659
What to Watch For:
Many Happy Returns:
Michael Colella started the season with the Omaha Lancers before being traded to the Tri-City Storm in the first half of the year. While with Omaha, Colella spoiled the Stars home-opener, scoring in overtime to hand the Stars their first loss at the Ice Box in 2018-19. Lincoln acquired the forward from the Storm just over a week ago. In four games with Lincoln, the New Jersey-born skater has a goal and two assists and enters play with a three-game point streak.
Since recording an assist against the Lancers two weeks ago, Jordan Power has been turning up his scoring of late. He enters play today with an active three-game point streak, scoring a goal and three assists in that span, and has five points in his last seven games.
Both of Steven Agriogianis' goals this season have come against the Lancers, a team he played eight games for in 2017-18.
Pointing Up:
In their past ten games, the Lancers are 4-3-1-2. After scoring just three goals over the first three games of the 2019 half of the calendar, Omaha has scored three or more goals in five of their last seven contests, going 4-1-1-1 in that span. Their offense has been led of late by the emergence of Jaxon Nelson, who's scored four goals and nine points in his last seven games and enters play on a three-game point streak.His three-point outing against Madison last night matched his season-high set in the last Stars-Lancers meeting.Omaha has elevated its offense when playing the Stars this season, scoring four or more goals in three of the four meetings in 2018-19.
Eyes on the 'teams:
The Stars penalty kill has killed off 12 straight penalties and has stopped 24 of its last 26. With the penalty kill scoring shorthanded last night against Sioux Falls, in their last seven games, the Stars have scored as many shorthanded goals as they've allowed opposing power plays: one.
The Omaha power play has performed well of late, recording goals in three-straight games, converting three of their last 12 opportunities, good for a success rate of 25.0%.
With the season series averaging 47.5 PIM's per game (albeit a total inflated by three fights in the season opener), the better unit could well-decide tonight's outcome.
United States Hockey League Stories from February 2, 2019
- Tri-City Drops Road Game to Des Moines 3-0 - Tri-City Storm
- Fargo's Third Period Power Play Goal Edges Dubuque, 4-2 - Dubuque Fighting Saints
- Hawks Finish Perfect Home Stand - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Omaha Defends Home Ice in 5-1 Victory over Lincoln - Omaha Lancers
- Stars Fall to Lancers 4-1 - Lincoln Stars
- Gameday Preview: Storm Set for USHL Game of the Week against Buccaneers - Tri-City Storm
- Preview - Stars at Lancers - Lincoln Stars
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