Saturday's box score

LINCOLN, Neb. – Jack Pechar and Matt Maltais each collected their first career hat tricks to headline Lincoln's nine-goal attack as the Stars defeated the Tri-City Storm 9-3 on Saturday night at the Ice Box. 

Lincoln (18-10-0, 36 pts) has won four of the first six meetings against the Storm this season. Tri-City (14-13-3, 31 pts) snapped its four-game road winning streak.  

Lincoln began the game's scoring with a tally 48 seconds into regulation. After the Stars dumped the puck into their offensive zone, Pechar one-timed a feed from Maltais directly in front of the Storm net. Maltais sent the pass from below the goal line. 

A few minutes later, Tri-City's Paul Bloomer was assessed a five minute major and game misconduct for head contact. Bloomer hit Lincoln's Etienne Lessard behind the Stars net as Tri-City attempted to move the puck deep inside the offensive zone. 

Lincoln put up one goal during the ensuing five minute power play. Dybal allowed a rebound in his crease after halting an initial slapshot from Caeden Herrington in the high slot. Maltais eventually grabbed the puck during a brief netfront scramble and shoved it to the back of the Tri-City net. 

The Storm cut Lincoln's lead in half at the 13:51 mark of the first. Bode Laylin fed Ashton Dahms, who was wide open in front of the Lincoln goal during a Storm offensive zone possession. Dahms caught the pass at the bottom of the left wing circle, then raised a backhand shot over the left pad of Lincoln goaltender William Prowse. 

Lincoln added another tally at the end of the first period and took a 3-1 lead to the first intermission. Daniel Shlaine one-timed a pass from Ethan Weber in the left wing circle of the Tri-City zone that snuck past Dybal's glove. It was Shlaine's team-leading 11th goal of the year. 

The Lincoln offense exploded with three goals in roughly the first four minutes of the second period, expanding their lead to 6-1. 

At the 1:15 mark of the second, Alex Pelletier scored his eighth of the season after finding a rebound off the left pad of Dybal. During a Lincoln rush just over two minutes later, Maltais tipped in a rink-wide feed from Pechar at the left post of the Storm cage. Tri-City replaced Dybal with Erick Roest in net after Maltais' tally. 

The Stars took their five goal advantage at the 4:04 mark of the second during another offensive rush. Maltais passed from the right wing circle to Pechar in front of the Tri-City net. The Northeastern commit slapped the puck home for his second goal of the night. 

Dahms found the back of the net around ten minutes later, cutting Tri-City's deficit to four. The Minnesota Duluth commit won a brief battle behind the Lincoln cage, then took the puck in front and fired a snapshot past Prowse. It was the Lakeville, Minnesota native's second tally of the night and second career multi-goal game. 

Nolan Roed recorded the secondary assist on Dahms' tally. The St. Cloud State commit became the first Storm player to collect an assist in eight straight games. The previous franchise record of seven consecutive games with an assist was set by five different former Storm players: Trevor Connelly, Jeremy Wilmer, Ronnie Attard, Dan Labosky, and Brian Ward. 

Tri-City cut the deficit to three 1:58 into the third. Cam Briere deflected a Carson Pilgrim shot in front of the Lincoln net from the left point. It was the Omaha commit's fifth goal of the season. 

The Stars regained firm control of the contest, adding three more goals throughout the remainder of regulation to seal the win. 

Kade Kohanski collected his fourth of the season just over three and a half minutes into the final period after breaking to the Storm net from neutral ice and stuffing a five-hole shot past Roest. Pechar completed his hat trick 4:21 into the third after clubbing a one-timer past Roest at the bottom of the left wing circle in the Tri-City zone. Layne Loomer set up Pechar with a cross-ice pass before the shot. Maltais recorded his third of the night while cleaning up a rebound in the Storm crease following a Tanner Henricks rip from the left wing. 

The nine goals allowed by Tri-City were a season high. It broke the previous record of seven put up by Sioux Falls in a 7-5 Storm loss on Friday, October 18 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. 

Maltais' five points (three goals, two assists) led Lincoln's offense in the game. Pechar recorded four points (three goals, one assist). Herrington additionally contributed three points (three assists) in the Lincoln win. 

Roest halted 19 of 22 Lincoln shots after taking over for Dybal in the Tri-City crease during the second period. Dybal was credited with the loss. The Czechia native is now 8-4-2 in 16 appearances this season. 

Up next: Tri-City returns home for a pair of games next weekend. Lincoln first visits Kearney on Friday at 7:05 pm CT. 

The Storm are excited to announce Pizza Ranch will be the sponsor of $5 Kid's Fridays for the rest of the season. The Storm introduce $5 FunZone Fridays for all remaining Friday Storm home games. The first 50 kid's tickets purchased at the box office for a Friday home game will receive a pre-loaded $5 gift card to the FunZone arcade located inside of Pizza Ranch in Kearney. 

Omaha then comes to Viaero Center on Saturday for a 6:05 pm CT puck drop.

Fans can take advantage of the Nebraska Lottery Rivalry Pack during each game next weekend. Get four tickets, four hot dogs, four cans of soda, and ten Nebraska Lottery Scratch off tickets for only $44. Availability is limited. 

To purchase tickets or the Nebraska Lottery Rivalry Pack, visit stormhockey.com, call the Storm at 308-338-8144, or stop by the Viaero Center box office in-person.