KEARNEY, Neb. –  The Green Bay Gamblers broke a 2-2 tie by tabulating three unanswered third period goals to defeat the Tri-City Storm 5-2 on Friday night at Viaero Center. 

Green Bay (35-18-6, 76 pts) improved to 15-11-3 on the road this season. Tri-City (25-27-6, 56 pts) has dropped nine consecutive games. 

Gavin Katz's game-winning goal broke the 2-2 tie with 2:31 gone by in the third frame. As Green Bay controlled on the power play, Andrew O'Sullivan fed Katz from the slot. Katz tipped the puck on the left wing just outside the Tri-City crease beyond Storm netminder Michal Pradel for his 29th goal of the season. 

Landon Hafele gave Green Bay a 4-2 advantage with his 14th marker of the year a little over two minutes later. After William Samuelsson kicked a turned-over puck to Hafele at the bottom of the right circle, Hafele dashed to the Storm net and tucked the puck through Pradel's pads. 

The Gamblers' lead jumped to three with a David Rosival wrap-around marker at the 13:06 mark of the third. Rosival moved over the Storm blue line, then took the puck around Tri-City defenders and behind the Storm cage. The Czechia native stuffed a wrap-around try beyond Pradel's right pad for his 23rd goal of the year. Initially called no goal on the ice, officials reversed their decision after video review. 

Green Bay put up the first two goals of the game, but Tri-City answered to eventually even the score at 2-2. 

After gathering a loose puck on the end boards in the Tri-City zone, Chase Jette swiped a feed to the left circle and Zach Wooten, who then fed the puck to Gunnar Conboy in front of the Storm cage for Green Bay's first tally at the 8:37 mark of the first. Conboy slipped a shot under the pads of Pradel for his 12th marker of the campaign. 

Green Bay doubled its lead in the middle part of the second. As the Gamblers worked on the power play, Samuelsson ripped a snapshot from the top of the left circle through traffic and beyond Pradel for his third power play goal of the season.

Tri-City knotted the game at 2-2 by the end of the second. 

The Storm got on the board with a Lincoln Hjelm goal at the 14:17 mark of the second. Off a Mason Jenson give-and-go pass from behind the Tri-City cage, Hjelm swept the puck through the pads of Green Bay goaltender Leo Henriquez for his first goal since February 21. 

Less than two minutes later, as Tri-City possessed on the power play, Carson Pilgrim fed an open Bode Laylin from the end boards of the Green Bay zone. From between the faceoff circles, Laylin collected the puck then sniped a shot past Henriquez's blocker side for his team-leading sixth power play goal of the campaign. 

Henriquez halted 29 of 31 Storm shots to pick up his 18th win of the year. Pradel stopped 22 of 27 Green Bay attempts.

The Gamblers' Rosvial (1-1-2), Samuelsson (1-1-2), Katz (1-1-2) and O'Sullivan (0-2-2) all recorded multiple points. 

Up next: The Storm close their two-game set with Green Bay on Saturday at Viaero Center. It's Tri-City's final regular season home game during 2025-2026. 

Saturday is Kool-Aid Night celebrating the legendary beverage created in Hastings. The Storm will wear special Kool-Aid themed jerseys that will be auctioned off live after the game. Kool-Aid Night is presented by Kool-Aid Days and the Adams County Fairgrounds. 

Fans can purchase tickets at stormhockey.com.