Devin Shakar came 19.4 seconds away from recording a shutout but the Omaha Lancers defeated the Tri-City Storm 3-1 on Sunday night at Liberty First Credit Union Arena.
Omaha (4-12-1-0) earned three points over its final two games of the three-game weekend by following up Saturday's overtime loss with their second straight Sunday victory. Yegor Kim scored 3:41 into the game in what proved to be the Lancers' lone goal that wasn't on an empty-net. George Lovell and Kole Hyles scored empty-net goals in the final 1:24.
Shakar stole the show in his second straight start between the pipes, turning aside 35 shots. He finished the weekend with 63 saves on 66 shots and earned the first star Sunday night. The Brown commit has now recorded at least 25 saves in a game six times this season. Shakar's lone goal surrendered came with Omaha already leading 3-0 at the 19:41 mark of the third. Lancers netminders have recorded a 1.74 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage while only allowing seven goals over the last four games.
Kim put the Lancers on the board first for the second straight day after Tanner Morgan's sticklift right in front of the net gave Kim the puck all alone in the slot. That was enough to send the Lancers into the locker room with the lead and marked the fourth straight game that they held their opponent scoreless in the opening 20 minutes.
Lovell used his legs to score his second goal as a Lancer and second on an empty net in as many Sundays. With Tri-City (7-7-1-1) pressing the issue offensively in attempt to tie the game up Omaha cleared the puck on ice and appeared to have iced the puck, but Lovell hustled and skated stride-for-stride with Bode Laylin to wash out icing and keep the play alive. He retrieved the puck behind the goal and left it in the corner for Lefty Markonidis, who found Lovell in front of the empty cage for the eventual game-winner at the 18:36 mark.
Kole Hyles tacked on an insurance empty-net goal of his own 19:08 into the third frame on a wrister from the Lancer blueline to stretch Omaha's lead to 3-0.
Sunday wrapped up Omaha's third straight week with three games in it. The Lancers will not play three games in a week until a three-games-in-four-days stretch Dec. 10-13. No team has played more games than Omaha's 17 so far.
The Lancers will head east to take on the Chicago Steel Friday night. Puck drop is at 7:05 PM CST. You can catch the game on Mixlr or FloSports. Omaha's next home game is Nov. 15 for Military Appreciation Night against the Sioux City Musketeers. Tickets are available now at lancers.com
