SIOUX CITY, IA (KELO.com) — The Sioux Falls Stampede rallied from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits, but couldn’t stop the Sioux City offense as they eventually fell 7-4 to the Musketeers Friday night. Dan Russell tallied two goals for the second straight game while Valtterri Piironen and Cal Thomas tallied goals for the Herd. Noah Grannan turned aside 31 of 37 shots in goal for the Stampede who fell to 1-4-0 against the Musketeers this season.
Friday night first periods have not treated the Stampede well and that continued at the Tyson Events Center where the herd allowed three goals. Trailing 2-0 midway through the period, the Stampede got on the board at 13:27 when Valtterri Piironen wristed a shot from the top of the left circle and into the upper left-hand corner of the net to pull the Herd within one. Moments later the Stampede had a big rush down ice, but Alex Tracy and the Musketeers kept the puck out of the net. It appeared the Herd might escape the period down just one, but back came the Musketeers as Garrett Brown fired a shot that missed the net, but hit the back boards and bounced in front of the goal to Ben Steeves who tapped it in for a 3-1 lead. Sioux Falls outshot Sioux City, 9-8 in the period.
After a slow start to the second period, the Herd got things going in the final ten minutes. Moments after a failed power play, the Stampede converted when Dan Russell tipped in a shot from Ryan Healey to make it a 3-2 game at 16:28 of the period. Sioux Falls would rally to tie the game with just 30 seconds remaining in the period when Cal Thomas blasted a shot from the left point and past the stick side of Tracy to tie the game at three. Sioux Falls had all the momentum, but fell asleep in the final seconds and let Owen McLauhglin take the puck into the left circle and wristed a shot through the five-hole of Grannan to regain the lead at 4-3 with just seven seconds remaining in the period. Sioux City outshot Sioux Falls 13-9 in that final period.
The Stampede wouldn’t let the late goal get them down as they would once again tie the game when Russell tallied his second goal of the game at 8:09 of the period. Maddox Fleming sent a pass to the right circle for Russell who found a very small opening between Tracy and the goal and got it into the net to tie the game, 4-4. Unfortunately, the Musketeers would respond at 11:37 when McLaughlin would tally a hat-trick, scoring off a rebound. Just over a minute later the Musketeers started to pull away when a puck once again bounced off the back wall and Nick Pierre banked it off the pads of Grannan and into the net for a 6-4 lead. Sioux Falls tried to rally with the goaltender pulled, but the Musketeers would tally an empty net to take the game, 7-4.
Sioux City outshot Sioux Falls 17-8 in the third period and 38-26 on the night. Sioux City finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play while the Herd were 0-for-3.
The Stampede return to action Saturday when they travel to Omaha to face the Lancers at 6:05 PM. Fans can watch the game live at Blue Rock Bar & Grill or listen live on KELO News Talk 1320-AM, 105.1-FM, 107.9-FM and KELO.com.
