LINCOLN, Neb. – Jachym Prusek's eventual game-winning goal with under three minutes to go in regulation broke a late 3-3 tie and helped the Lincoln Stars to a 5-3 defeat of the Tri-City Storm on Friday night at the Ice Box. 

In the midst of a Stars offensive zone possession, Prusek collected the puck at the right point and walked toward the high slot. The Czechia native flew a shot past Tri-City netminder Michal Pradel to put Lincoln ahead with just over 2:30 left in the third period. The Stars added an Alex Pelletier empty-netter late for the two-goal victory. 

Lincoln (4-6-0, 8 pts) has won four consecutive games after beginning the season with six straight losses. Tri-City (4-6-1, 9 pts) fell to 2-2-0 in road games this season. 

The Stars' late magic came after much of regulation modeled a competitive, back-and-forth style. 

Lincoln began the scoring less than five minutes into regulation. Aiden Janz set up Kade Kohanski with a nifty saucer pass in front of the Tri-City net during a quick Lincoln rush. Kohanski caught the feed and quickly chipped the puck top-shelf past Pradel. 

Kohanski added another marker about five minutes into the middle period. The Minnesota Duluth commit finished a rebound off Pradel's chest following a Nik Young blue line shot. The tally produced Kohanski's second career multi-goal game. 

The Storm roared back not long after, tying the game at two with a pair of goals just 24 seconds apart. 

Tri-City got on the board after Carson Pilgrim cleaned a rebound off the pads of Lincoln netminder Will Prowse. The Princeton commit made an initial save on a shot from the left point by Cade Kozak, but was unable to fend off the Warroad, Minnesota native's follow up attempt. 

The Storm controlled possession off the center ice draw following Pilgrim's tally. Mason Jenson took the puck down the left wing into the Lincoln zone. As he entered the left faceoff circle, the Ohio State commit ripped a snapshot by Prowse to knot the game even. Jenson's marker was his first of the season with the Storm. 

Lincoln retook the lead just over four minutes into the third. John Hirschfeld clapped a rebound past Pradel near the left post of Tri-City's net after Janz rushed the puck down the right wing and fired it toward the Storm cage. 

Jenson evened the game at 3-3 with his second marker of the night less than three minutes later. The Rogers, Minnesota native gathered a deflected Pilgrim pass on the backdoor, shoving the puck past Prowse for his first career multi-goal game. 

Prowse stopped 29 of 32 Storm shots, improving to 4-3-0 on the season. Pradel halted 26 of 30 Lincoln attempts.

Four Lincoln players logged multiple points on the night. 

Up next: Tri-City continues its three-in-three tomorrow at home against the Stars. Puckdrop inside Viaero Center is set for 6:05 pm. To purchase tickets, visit stormhockey.com, call the Storm at 308-338-8144, or stop by the Viaero Center box office in-person.

The Storm end the weekend with a visit to Sioux Falls on Sunday (4:05 pm puckdrop). 

Each game will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.