Stampede Come Up Short In A Shootout At Sioux City

SIOUX CITY, IA -- The Sioux Falls Stampede rallied from a late 4-3 deficit to tie, but came up short in a shootout, falling 5-4 to the Sioux City Musketeers Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center.

The Herd earned a point in the standings and are now 29-10-2 on the season, tops in the Western Conference. They now lead the Fargo Force by seven points for first in the West and finished their nine-game road swing with a 6-2-1 mark.

The Musketeers wasted little time getting on the board, scoring just 1:05 into the game. Joe Snivley took the puck behind the Stampede net and slid it to Conor McGlynn who was wide open to the right of Stampede netminder Charlie Lindgren and quickly wristed slapped the puck into the net. The Herd responded at 6:37 of the period when Zeb Knutson tallied his 17^th goal of the season. Preston Hodge sent a pass down the left wing side to Knutson who ripped a shot on net that was stopped by Musketeers goaltender Joey Ballmer, but the rebound bounced to Knutson who tucked the puck under the left pad of Ballmer to make it 1-1. It remained that way until late in the period when Ryan Siiro tallied his 6^th goal of the season. Both teams finished the period with seven shots on goal.

The Musketeers tied the game 10:47 into the second period when Kyle Schmidt sent a pass from behind the Stampede net through the slot to McGlynn who quickly slapped the puck into the back of the net for his second goal of the night. The tie wouldn’t last for long as the Stampede rebounded to once again regain the lead when Todd Skirving scored on the powerplay. Vinny Muto sent a pass through the high slot to Tony Calderone who wristed a shot on goal that was deflected in by Skirving for his 15^th goal of the season and gave the Stampede a 3-2 lead. Sioux Falls would take that lead into the third period while Sioux City outshot the Herd in the period 8 to 7.

Sioux City tied the game midway through the third period when Kyle Schmidt fired a shot from the high slot past Lindgren. Just minutes later, the Musketeers struck again when they brought the puck through the zone and Jake Guentzel wristed a shot on goal that was batted by Michael Kapla and slowly rolled under the out stretched  arm of Lindgren and into the back of the net at 12:04. Sioux Falls would not give up though and rallied to tie the game at 17:25 when Siiro tallied his second of the night when he knocked in a loose puck in the crease to tie the game 4-4.

That goal eventually forced overtime where Sioux City outshot the Stampede 5 to 3, but neither team would score, sending the game to a shootout. In the shootout, the Stampede got a third round goal from Knutson, but the Musketeers scored on their first and third shots to earn a 2-1 shootout win and a 5-4 victory over the Stampede.

Sioux City outshot Sioux Falls, 32-29 on the night and finished 0-for-6 on the powerplay while the Stampede were 1-for-5.

The Herd finally return home this Friday when they host the Waterloo Black Hawks at the Sioux Falls Arena. Game time is 7:05 PM.

Courtesy:  Jim Olander/Sioux Falls Stampede