Ali Scores Twice as Stars Beat Storm
October 15, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Lincoln Stars News Release
The Lincoln Stars opened up a home-and-home weekend set against the Tri-City Storm with a 6-3 victory on Friday night at the Ice Box.
Brennan Ali scored the Stars’ first and last goals of the night and added an assist in the victory for his second consecutive multi-point game.
The Stars (4-1) also scored six goals for the second consecutive game. Friday’s win came in part thanks to a four-goal first period. Three of those goals came in a 2:55 span in the first period that helped lead to Tri-City’s (3-2) second consecutive loss.
“We talked about having a really good pace right off the hop,” head coach Rocky Russo said. “You have great opponent who is well coached and you want to put some pressure on them right away and get them back on their heels.”
Ali opened up the scoring with a wide-open rebound goal. Klavs Veinbergs led the breakout from the Stars’ end and skated into the right corner before letting loose a cross-ice pass to Marian Mosko. His shot was stopped but Ali found the loose puck in the crease and swatted it into the net to give the Stars the game’s first goal for the fourth time in five games.
Daniel Sambuco added to the Stars’ lead with an impressive display of hand-eye coordination. Sambuco started a rush toward the net and then passed behind himself to Wyatt Olson, who tried to send it back to Sambuco but the puck popped up in the air. Sambuco kept his stick below the cross bar and batted the puck out of the air and into the net.
The Stars’ third goal in less than three minutes came on a broken play. DJ Hart weaved through a couple defenders at the blue line, skated into empty space and waisted a shot past Niklas Erickson for his first goal of the season.
That tally put the Stars up 3-0, but they would give up the game’s next two goals when Sebastian Tornqvist wristed home his first goal of the game at 12:30 of the period and then Augustus Falloon cut the Stars’ lead to just one goal 5:18 later.
“We took the foot off the pedal a little bit,” Russo said. “That was a valuable lesson early on in the season that you respect your opponent in all situations, and you don’t let the score dictate your effort. That game could have gone a lot differently had we not refocused and played the way that we did in the second period.”
The Stars responded on a big goal late in the first period. Mason Marcellus tallied in the final minute to give the Stars a multi-goal lead again for good. Marcellus dropped off the puck at the near board and skated to the slot during a four-on-four stretch. Tanner Ludtke received the pass and quickly flicked it to a wide-open Marcellus in front of the net to make it 4-2, Stars.
Keaton Peters set up Jared Mangan at 9:41 of the second for his first of the season. Peters held the puck in the left corner even with the goal line and fed a streak Mangan cutting to the net.
Ali’s second of the game came at 19:38 of the second when a face-off by Michael Mesic sent the puck to him atop the right-win faceoff circle and he made no mistake to record the third multi-goal game by a Stars skater this season.
Tornqvist scored the third period’s only goal on a loose puck in front of the net at the 18:16 mark of the frame.
Cameron Whitehead matched his season-high mark with 30 saves to pick up his third victory in four appearances between the pipes. His finest period was the second, when he stopped all 12 shots faced. Whitehead’s best stop came on a breakaway chance by Artemi Nizameyev. The first shot was denied with Whitehead’s right pad but the puck bounced right to Nizameyev as he drifted far post side. Whitehead pinned his right pad to the post to deny the rebound opportunity.
The Stars now travel to the Viaero Center on Saturday night looking to take both games this weekend against Tri-City. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m.
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