KEARNEY, Neb. –  The Sioux Falls Stampede erased a two-goal deficit by scoring five times in the third period to knock off the Tri-City Storm 6-3 on Saturday night at Viaero Center.

Sioux Falls (3-1-0, 6 pts) earned a split of the two-game series in Kearney with the win. Tri-City (2-2-0, 4 pts) returned to the .500 mark in the young season. 

Tri-City held a 3-1 lead at the end of two periods. The Stampede took command of the third and outscored the Storm 5-0 in the frame. 

Vojtech Svancar made it a 3-2 contest with a power play goal just 1:52 into the final period. 

It was Sioux Falls' lone power play goal across 18 attempts in the series. Svancar finished a rebound off Tri-City netminder Ryan Denes following a shot from Joey Macrina. 

The Stampede evened the contest when Ryland Rooney produced his first goal of the season 8:30 into the third. In a delayed penalty situation, Rooney received a rinkwide pass from Cooper Soller in the left circle of the Storm zone and ripped a shot past Denes to make it 3-3. 

Sioux Falls took its first lead of the night less than a minute later. After his initial shot attempt was blocked, Ryder Betzold recollected the puck near the Storm slot and flipped a shot through traffic beyond Denes. 

The Stampede grabbed a two goal lead with less than four minutes left in the third period. As Sioux Falls rushed into the Storm zone, Max Davis set up Rooney with a backdoor feed off the right post of the Storm cage. Rooney clubbed the puck home for his second tally of the night. 

The Storm pulled Denes quickly after Rooney's goal. Sioux Falls found the vacant cage with about two and a half minutes left when Betzold swiped a shot home from the left circle of the Tri-City zone for his second goal of the game, making it 6-3. 

Despite the third period outcome, Tri-City strongly handled the first two periods of regulation.

The Storm were first to find the board at the 13:37 mark of the first period,.Trevor Hill rushed the puck down the right wing of the Sioux Falls zone then fed a streaking Adam Obusek on the back door. The open Obusek finished a quick shot past Stampede netminder Ivans Kufterins for his first goal of the season. 

The Storm doubled their lead less than two minutes later. Dylan Krayer gathered a bouncing puck in front of the Stampede net and swiped it past Kufterins for his second marker of the campaign. 

Sioux Falls struck first on a Matteo Alvarez tally at the 3:23 mark of the middle period. After gathering the puck from Leon Buzek on the left wing of the Storm zone, Alvarez tucked a quick shot past Denes for his second goal of the season. 

Tri-City was quick to answer. Just over a minute later, at the 4:41 mark of the middle frame, Aleksandr Sokolov tallied his fourth goal of the series. The Murom, Russia native legally used his skate to deflect an Erik Kald shot between the legs of Kufterins for his league-leading sixth marker of the year. Sokolov recorded a hat trick in the series opener on Friday. 

Dylan Krayer (1-1-2) was the lone Storm player to end the night with multiple points. Sioux Falls' Rooney (2-0-2), Betzold (2-0-2), Svancar (1-1-2), and Macrina (0-2-2) also found the scoresheet multiple times. 

Kufterins stopped 24 of 27 shots to earn his first career USHL win. Denes suffered his first career USHL loss after halting 39 of 44 Sioux Falls attempts. 

Up next: Tri-City hits the road for a pair of games next weekend. The Storm visit Lincoln on Friday (7:05 pm CT puckdrop) before traveling to Des Moines on Saturday (6:05 pm CT puckdrop). Each contest will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.