Cameron Whitehead stopped all 32 shots to record his third shutout of the season and the Lincoln Stars defeated the Fargo Force, 5-0, on Friday night at the Ice Box.
Lincoln (17-9-1) scored three times during a five-minute span late in the first period to open a crucial weekend. The Stars also scored two power play goals and now sit six points back of first place in the Western Conference.
Fargo (19-6-0-3) was one victory away from matching the longest winning streak in the USHL but instead suffered its first loss since Dec. 9 against Sioux City. Friday was the first time that the Force were shut out since Oct. 28 in a 4-0 loss at home to Sioux City.
Each member of the Stars' top line recorded a point as Tanner Ludtke (1+1), Doug Grimes (1+1) and Mason Marcellus (0+2) all found the scoresheet. Marcellus remains first in the USHL with 23 assists.
"It's a heck of a win," head coach Rocky Russo said. "It was a complete team effort. I thought everybody top to bottom played hard, competed, touched pucks first and finished checks. I challenged the guys to really embrace the identity that we decided on early in the season. I think we lost that temporarily, which happens to any team, [even] at the highest level." Â
Whitehead's victory was his 11th of the season and second consecutive following a 35-save performance last Friday at Omaha. He was a late scratch ahead of last Saturday's game against Tri-City due to illness and it continued to bug him early this week. Regardless, he was able to recover over the course of the week en route to backstopping the Stars to a win on Friday.
"It was a little bit different of a week," Whitehead said. "I didn't practice Monday or Tuesday due to the flu but I got an IV in my arm and it got me going Wednesday and Thursday. The legs felt a little bit because practicing isn't like a game but it felt good during the game. The boys were playing really well in front of me and that always a bit of an energy booster."
Michael Mesic put the Stars on the board first with his second goal in the last three games. Antonio Fernandez dug a puck out of the corner and found Mesic all alone far-post side to score his fourth goal of the season at 14:40 mark.
Ludtke scored the middle goal of the second period off a brilliant cross-ice feed from Marcellus on the power play. That tally was his second power-play goal in the last three games and team-leading fifth of the season at the 16:05 mark.
Keaton Peters capped the first period by striking with 33.3 seconds to go on a breakaway. Patrick Raftery slipped the puck over the center of the ice from the far-boards side to spring Peters for his 13th goal and ninth at the Ice Box.
Grimes added to the Stars' lead in the second period by carrying the puck almost all the way from Lincoln's blue line to the other end. He cut in between the faceoff circles and fired a wrister past netminder Anton Castro at the 17:58 mark for the lone second-period goal.
Brennan Ali capped the scoring with an empty-netter midway through the third period. Fargo pulled Castro during a four-on-four sequence but Ali hustled to force a turnover at the Force's blue line and won a foot race to poke the puck into the net.
Lincoln improved to 9-2-1 at the Ice Box in its first game of the new year and hold a 2-1 advantage in the season series with Fargo. The Stars host the Force again on Saturday night, this time at 6:05 p.m. Tickets can be purchased now at lincolnstars.com
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