Siiro Powers Stampede To 7th Straight Win

KEARNEY, NE -- C.J. Franklin’s shorthanded goal in the second period and Ryan Siiro’s hat trick lifted the Sioux Falls Stampede to a 6-3 victory at Tri-City on Saturday night. Ian Mansfield and Jack Stander both tallied two assists for the Herd while Charlie Lindgren stopped 26 of 29 shots for his 33rd victory of the season.

The win was the Herd’s seventh straight and eighth straight on the road. It also guaranteed the Stampede home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs and extended their first place lead on Fargo to 11 points while staying just one point back of Dubuque in the race for the Anderson Cup.

Sioux Falls is now 42-12-4 and just one win shy of tying a franchise record for most wins in a season. They are also a league best 21-8-2 on the road this year.

It didn’t take the Herd long time to find the back of the net when Matt Van Voorhis tallied his fifth goal of the season just 3:32 in. Van Voorhis one-timed a pass from Jack Stander on the left point and blew it right past Tri-City goaltender Justin Quale to give the Herd a 1-0 lead. It stayed that way until 14:55 when Siiro found the back of the net for the eighth time this season. Siiro took a pass in front of the net from Mansfield and backhanded it past Quale to make it a 2-0 game. Tri-City was able to get on the board with just 13 seconds remaining when Trevor Moore took the puck inside the right circle and slid it through the slot to Michael Vecchione who quickly one-timed the puck past Lindgren to make it a 2-1 game at the end of one period. Sioux Falls outshot the Storm 12-10 in the period.

The game stayed 2-1 until 13:27 of the second when Eli May’s shot from the right point deflected into the back of the net to tie the game 2-2. Just seconds later the Storm went on the powerplay, but Sioux Falls would be the team taking advantage. Franklin blocked a shot at the right point and broke free on a breakaway, scoring on a backhanded shot for his 31st goal of the season, giving the Herd a 3-2 edge. Sioux Falls extended their lead with just 38 seconds remaining in the period when Siiro tallied his second goal of the night when he took a pass in the slot from Mansfield and wristed a shot past Quale. It marked the fifth straight game the Herd have scored a goal in the final minute of the second period.

Siiro completed the hat trick 4:03 into the third when Thomas Forgione found Siiro open in the slot again and Siiro’s wristed went right past the stick side of Quale to extend the Herd’s lead to 5-2. Tri-City bounced back with a goal, but the Herd put the game away for good when Tony Calderone blasted a shot into the upper left hand corner of the net to give the Stampede a 6-3 advantage.

Sioux Falls outshot the Storm 31-29 and finished the night 0-for-2 on the powerplay while Tri-City was 1-for-2. A total of just eight combined penalty minutes were called on the night.

After a month that saw eight games on the road, the Herd return home to the Sioux Falls Arena this Friday when they host the Omaha Lancers at 7:05 PM. Sioux Falls will close out the regular season by playing five of their last six games on the road.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Stampede