Men's Ice Hockey 12/30/2023 11:48:00 PM Joel Norman

STARS BATTLE TO SWEEP HOME-AND-HOME SET WITH LANCERS

MONTGOMERY SCORES TWICE, INCLUDING GAME-WINNER

The Lincoln Stars overcame three different deficits to defeat the Omaha Lancers, 4-3, on Saturday night at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena.

Blake Montgomery scored twice, including the game-winning goal with 1:48 to go, and Lincoln (10-16-0-2) never relinquished its only lead of the night. Max Ferkodic and Dashel Oliver also lit the lamp to give the Stars back-to-back wins to open up a three-game weekend.

"I'm really happy with the way the guys responded after the tough third period yesterday," head coach Rocky Russo said. "We played 60 minutes today."

Trailing 4-3 after Drew DellaSalla's goal at the 11:43 mark of the third the Stars dug deep and netted the equalizer and the game-winner in the final 5:12 of regulation. Oliver scored for the second time against Omaha this weekend at the 14:48 mark for the game-tying goal. He has scored in back-to-back games since returning from injury yesterday after missing 10 consecutive games.

Montgomery took advantage of a broken stick to net the game-winning goal 3:24 later. As Lancers defenseman Ryan Kroll tried to work the puck over the blue line on the near side of the ice by his bench his stick broke. Montgomery intercepted the puck at the red line, glided in and recorded his third multi-goal game of the season.

His first tally helped the Stars even the game up for the second time. Galloping into the attacking zone all the way from his own end, Montgomery flipped the puck in the air off Lancers defenseman Charlie Lieberman then swatted at it off one hop to make it 2-2 with 2:33 remaining in the second period.

"I just chipped it to the left of the defense," Montgomery said. "I didn't mean to chip it the way that I chipped it but it came down really high so I smacked it and it went in."

Ferkodic slipped behind the defense to tie the game up on a mini breakaway at the 11:25 mark of the first period. Lucas Massie stopped 22-of-25 shots to earn the road victory in between the pipes.

The Stars look to win three straight games for the first time this season when they face the Tri-City Storm at 6:05 p.m. on New Year's Eve. This is the fifth straight season that Lincoln has traveled to Kearney on Dec. 31 and the fourth head-to-head matchup with the Storm this season.

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