KEARNEY, NE – John McNelis and Hunter Anderson each tallied for Sioux Falls as the Stampede beat the Tri-City Storm 2-1 on Saturday night.
Sioux Falls (8-5-0, 16 pts) snapped a three-game losing streak at Viaero Center with the win. Tri-City (6-7-3, 15 pts) has lost six of its first eight home games this season.
Unlike yesterday's series opener, where a combined five goals were produced in the opening twenty minutes, Saturday's contest remained scoreless after one period. Each team exchanged a handful of solid offensive chances in the frame, where Sioux Falls outshot Tri-City 10-4.
The Stampede were first to score early in the second. While on the power play, Sioux Falls' Reid Varkonyi sent a return feed from the near corner of the Storm zone back to the left point and John McNelis. The Boston University commit one-timed a shot into the top-left corner of the Tri-City net on starting goaltender Adam Dybal's glove side.
It was just the fourth power play goal of the season for Sioux Falls, who began the night with a power play conversion rate of 8.3% on the year.
The Stampede added another just over two minutes into the third period. Hunter Anderson, who was positioned off the right post of the Storm goal, collected a loose puck during a netfront scramble and quickly ripped it top shelf past Tri-City netminder Erick Roest for his third of the season.
Tri-City cut the lead in half at the 7:19 mark of the third. Following a battle on the left wing boards in the Storm offensive zone, Ilia Morozov fed a loose puck to Jack Hamilton at the left point. Hamilton quickly snapped a shot that Ashton Dahms creatively tipped into the back of the Stampede net. The Minnesota-Duluth commit recorded his second tally of the season.
Down by a goal with under two minutes left, Tri-City pulled Dybal from the net. After a handful of decent Storm offensive chances to tie the game, Tri-City's Artemi Nizameyev was assessed a tripping minor with just over 30 seconds remaining while defending a Sioux Falls puck carrier near center ice. Shaun McEwen picked up another Storm penalty, a minor for cross checking, about 20 seconds afterward during a board battle deep in the Tri-City zone. The Storm struggled to spark any offense the rest of the game while on a two-man disadvantage.
Dybal stopped 22 of 24 shots in the Storm net. Aiden Wright halted 19 of 20 shots in the Stampede cage to pick up his fourth victory of the season.
Up next: Tri-City visits Waterloo for a two-game series next weekend at Young Arena. Friday's contest begins at 7:05 pm CT. Saturday's game is scheduled for 6:05 pm CT. Both matchups will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
Saturday's box score
