Saturday's box score
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Despite being outshot 12-2 in the third period, the Tri-City Storm protected it's 3-2 advantage for the duration of the final frame and held on to beat the Des Moines Buccaneers on Saturday night at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex.
The Storm (23-22-3, 49 pts) have won five of their past six games. Des Moines (19-28-3, 41 pts) has dropped 14 of its last 18 contests.
Tri-City (6th place Western Conf.) grew its lead to eight standings points over the Buccaneers (7th place Western Conf.) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Storm have won all three of its meetings with Des Moines during 2024-2025.
Tri-City was first to score in an intense, fast-paced opening period. In the midst of a Storm power play, Attila Lippai caught a Carmelo Crandell pass near the right post of the Des Moines net. Lippai quickly walked in front of the cage and shoved a shot off the right pad of Buccaneer goaltender Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau. A rebound squeaked toward the left post, where Cam Springer finished the play for his ninth goal of the season. The power play resulted from a Ryan Seelinger double minor for high sticking assessed just over 90 seconds into regulation.
Des Moines answered less than two minutes later with a power play marker of its own. After the Buccaneers won an offensive zone faceoff, Brandt Harper sent a shot from the right point that redirected off both Des Moines's Ryan Seelinger and Brittan Alstead en route to the Storm net. The puck flew past Tri-City goaltender Kyle Jones, tying the contest at one. Alstead was last to touch the puck. It was his eighth tally of the year. The goal came after Dylan Nolan picked up a two-minute minor for tripping.
The Buccaneers jumped out to their first and only lead of the game on another power play tally a little under five minutes later. Seelinger rushed into his offensive zone, taking the puck below Tri-City's goal line. The Miami commit quickly sent a feed to Theo Kiss in the slot. Kiss initially bobbled the pass, then regained control of the puck and sent a shot through Jones for his seventh goal of the year.
Tri-City produced an impressive second period where they put up the tying and eventual game-winning goal.
Landon Fandel evened the contest with his fourth tally of the season at the 7:20 mark of the middle frame. The Augustana commit grabbed a loose puck on the left wing boards of neutral ice, drove to the Buccaneer net, and slid a backhand shot through the pads of Seguin-Lescarbeau.
Tri-City struck again with just under five minutes left in the second. Colby Woogk sent a pass from the Storm zone to Lincoln Hjelm at neutral ice. The Omaha commit was positioned on the Tri-City side of the center ice red line. Hjelm tipped the pass into Des Moines's zone and immediately sprinted to negate a potential icing call and win the puck behind the Buccaneer net.
Hjelm swiftly fed a late-streaking Bloomer, who ripped a shot past the outstretched left pad of Seguin-Lescarbeau. It was the Chicago native's fourth goal of the season and first since February 8 at Muskegon.
No more tallies were produced the rest of the night.
The Buccaneers were dominant in third period puck possession, but failed to solve Jones. Des Moines was unsuccessful on two power play attempts in the frame, their only man advantages on Saturday without producing a power play goal.
Seguin-Lescarbeau was pulled with approximately ninety seconds remaining in the third. While filled with plenty of quality looks, the extra attacker situation also did not yield the Buccaneers an equalizer.
Jones picked up his first win since January 24, when the Storm beat Fargo 2-1 at the USHL Frosty Cup event in Frisco, Texas.
Up next: Tri-City finishes the weekend with a 5:00 pm CT matchup on Sunday at Des Moines. The game will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
