FARGO, ND. – The Lancers were back inside Scheels Arena tonight (3/4) for a rematch with the Fargo Force as they were looking to avoid the weekend sweep after being taken down 6-1 the night prior.
Both teams swapped goaltenders in this one as Matej Marinov(FGO) and Kevin Pasche(OMA) went head-to-head last night. But tonight, Michael Hrabal(OMA) and Anton Castro(FGO) got the go ahead.
Goaltending in the opening period was perfect for both squads as Omaha lead in the shot count 13-12, but Hrabal and Castro turned away everything thrown at them as the period concluded in a game locked at zero.
The second period wrote the same story as the two teams remained scoreless through 40 minutes of play.
Hrabal turned away all 23 shots he saw on the night leading up to the second intermission, as Anton Castro did the same with his 20 shots faced.
The third period was when Fargo took over the majority of the momentum, winning most of face-offs and controlling play in their attacking zone for over half of the period.
But even with the Force applying that much pressure, Hrabal had every answer and the Lancers' defense was solid at clearing rebounds to take away second chances from the top offense in the west.
Late in the period, four-on-four action ensued following penalties being handed to Drew Montgomery and Kyle Smolen, opening the ice up for two minutes.
Cole Knuble collected a pass from Leo Gruba near the blue line and sent a shot on net. Following the save by Hrabal, the puck was sent straight up in the air and tipped its way onto the stick of Bret Link. Link was able to spin back to the direction the original shot came from and netted the game-winner. Capturing the 1-0 victory for Fargo.
Hrabal completed the night with 34 saves on 35 shots faced, handing him an impressive 0.971 save percentage on the night.
The Lancers will be back in action on Friday, March 10
th for a 7:05PM CST. puck drop in Lincoln to take on the Stars and close a month-long road trip. That game can be caught on Mixlr and FloSports.
