Saturday's box score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Ben Wilmott's two goals and Aiden Wright's stellar performance in net helped the Sioux Falls Stampede to a 5-1 victory over the Tri-City Storm on Saturday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. 

Sioux Falls (29-12-4, 62 pts) has won 16 of 24 games on home ice this season. Tri-City (19-21-3, 41 pts) snapped its streak of two consecutive victories. 

The Storm were first to score, kicking off a busy first period of goals. Sioux Falls native Landon Fandel grabbed his third tally of the season at the 4:09 mark of the opening frame after redirecting a Rylan Bonkowski shot from up high in the Stampede zone. Fandel had approximately 30 friends and family in attendance at Saturday's game. 

Sioux Falls commanded the scoresheet thereafter, putting up five unanswered. 

The Stampede got on the board just past the halfway mark of the period. Ritter Coombs grabbed his eighth goal of the season after ripping a shot past Storm starting goaltender Adam Dybal from the top of the left wing circle. Dybal returned to the ice on Friday for the first time since December 28 after time on injured reserve. Coombs received a feed from Gennadi Chaly, who won a board battle in the right wing corner. 

Sioux Falls doubled its lead on a Wilmott goal 16:29 into the first. Wilmott deflected a Javon Moore shot from at the top of the left wing circle as the Stampede rushed into the Storm zone. It was the Ohio State commit's eleventh of the season. 

Sioux Falls took a 3-1 lead on a Gennadi Chaly penalty shot. In the midst of a netfront scramble at the Storm crease, Shaun McEwen used his hand to bat a loose puck away from the blue paint. By rule, when a defending skater uses their hand to play a loose puck inside their crease, a penalty shot is awarded to the opposing team. On the attempt, Chaly tucked a shot inside the left post of Tri-City's net for his eighth of the season.  

The Storm replaced Dybal with Kyle Jones at the beginning of the second period. Dybal stopped 9 of the 12 shots he saw in the opening frame. 

Sioux Falls added another with just over two minutes remaining in the second. JJ Monteiro flipped a centering pass from the left wing circle of Tri-City's zone toward the Storm crease. Initially called no goal on the ice, the officials reviewed the play and reversed their decision. Video replay showed the puck enter the blue paint, then slip between Jones's legs and into the back of Tri-City's cage. It was Monteiro's sixth of the season. 

The Stampede completed their string of five unanswered at the 7:26 mark of the third. Wilmott collected his second of the night on a high snapshot from the right wing circle that sneaked past Jones's glove side into the top corner of Tri-City's net. 

Jones stopped 10 of 12 shots across his 40 minute appearance. Wright, who played all 60 minutes, halted 25 of the 26 shots that came his way. The Vermont commit has stopped 56 of the last 59 attempts he's faced. 

Sioux Falls clinched the regular season series with Tri-City. The Stampede took four of the six total matchups this year. The clubs are not scheduled to meet again during 2024-2025. 

Up next: Tri-City ends its "three-in-three" Sunday at Sioux City. Puckdrop is slated for 3:05 pm CT. The matchup will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.