Men's Ice Hockey 3/29/2024 11:53:00 PM Joel Norman

STARS ERUPT OFFENSIVELY, DEFEAT STAMPEDE

SCORE FIVE-OR-MORE GOALS FOR 12TH TIME

Five different players lit the lamp and the Lincoln Stars defeated the Sioux Falls Stampede, 5-1, on Friday night at the Ice Box.

Lincoln (24-28-3-2) moved back into sole possession of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a combination of their win and Des Moines' 5-1 loss to Sioux City. The Stars and the Buccaneers both have 53 points but Lincoln holds the tiebreaker with one more victory. Yan Shostak took a shutout into the final five minutes of regulation but finished with 35 saves. Kai Janviriya recorded three assists for the second time this season to lead all Stars players in points.

"All of us were fired up to play for this one," Janviriya said. "It was great to snap out of how we've been playing for a bit. I thought we did a great job of playing as a five-man unit tonight in all three zones. All the guys worked their butt off and contributed."

The Stars scored twice in first period and three times in the second to hit at least five goals in a game for the 12th time this season and remain undefeated in those situations.

Martin Masa opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the right point that redirected off an opposing stick for his third goal of the season at the 6:34 mark of the first.

Justin Mexico doubled up the Stars' lead with a power-play goal at the 10:45 mark. Janviriya earned his first assist of the night by sending the puck from blue line to the far circle to Keaton Peters, who quickly found Mexico in the slot. The tally marked the fifth time in six games against Sioux Falls that Lincoln scored on the power play.

"I thought that we got things that we needed," head coach Rocky Russo said, "which was focus, compete level, hot start and then execution. We were able to get one early and I think that took care of some of the questions regarding our confidence lately. Then obviously we get a beautiful power play goal and we were off and running from there."

The Stars' 2-0 lead marked the first time that they led by that score after 20 minutes since Feb. 3 but they added on with three more goals in the second period. Jack Pechar created separation on a mini breakaway score his 18th goal of the season to stretch the lead to 3-0 at the 7:58 mark of the second stanza.

Ryan Spinale picked up the primary assist on Pechar's goal and then scored one of his own just over six minutes later. Blake Montgomery received a bank pass off the far wall from Griffin Brown, sped past the defense and then slipped the puck to Spinale all alone in front of the net. Spinale's goal marked his third of the season against Sioux Falls and seventh overall.

After earning the secondary assist for each of his first two apples of the night Janviriya earned the primary helper on the Stars' final goal of the night at the 15:43 mark of the second. His initial shot from the blue line was denied by German Yavash whacked home the rebound from in front of the net and scored in his first game back after missing the previous two games.

The Stars look to stack back-to-back home victories as they host the Tri-City Storm at 6:05 on Saturday night. It's Down Syndrome Awareness Night and Lincoln will be wearing specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game. Tickets can be purchased at lincolnstars.com

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