B³ Post-Game Recap 2/12: Lincoln 2, Tri-City 5

Boxscore

The Lincoln Stars lost their fourth straight road game, as the Tri-City Storm used three third period goals to skate past the Stars in Kearney, 5-2. The Stars came out very strong in this game, outplaying the Storm in the first period and out-shooting them 15-5. However, Stars goaltender Matt Green could not stop one of those 5 shots and the Stars found themselves down 1-0 at the first intermission. In the second period, Stars forward Brodie Reid scored a powerplay goal to even the game at 1-1, but the Storm answered later in the second to pull ahead 2-1 going into the second period. In the third period, it was all Tri-City as the Storm outscored the Stars 3-1, and won the game 5-2.  The two teams combined for a total of 200 penalty minutes in the game.

In the second period of this game, a gong show line brawl broke out which saw numerous fights including a goalie tilt between Stars goaltender Jared Coreau and Storm goaltender Carsen Chubak.  Stars goaltender Matt Green started the game for the Stars, but was pulled by the coaches after giving up the second Storm goal in the game.  24 seconds after Coreau replaced Green in net, the line brawl occurred so Coreau only saw 24 seconds of action last night before being thrown out of the game.  I would suspect Coreau will be suspended for the game against Youngstown tonight, which is a shame.  Personally, I thought Coreau deserved to start the game last night against the Storm considering how well he had played as of late.  I understand that Matt Green beat the Storm the last time these two teams faced off against each other, but I've always been of the opinion that you stick with a "hot" goaltender.  It is unknown how many other Stars players involved in the line brawl will be suspended for the game tonight against Youngstown. 

The Stars outshot the Storm 40-27, but they could not solve either of the two Storm goaltenders last night.  I'm not sure I agree with Coach McGroarty's comments after the game last night in which he stated, "Tonight we were outstanding.  I'm actually shocked we lost. I really am."  It seemed to me that this was another game in which the Stars got frustrated after outplaying a team early on, lost composure, and in turn lost the game.  Unfortunately, we've seen that a lot this season.

The Stars will look to get back on track against the struggling Youngstown Phantoms tonight at the IceBox.  Faceoff is at 7:05pm.

Go Stars.