LINCOLN, Neb. – Jake Wahlin led the way with a four-point night as the Tri-City Storm (31-13-6) used goals from six different scorers to defeat the Lincoln Stars (15-29-5) 6-1 on Tuesday night at the Ice Box.

Chris Wilkie became the first USHL player to reach the 30-goal plateau this season with a third period tally, while Wahlin and Matthew Freytag each scored and reached the 30-point mark in the victory.

The Storm are now 6-0-1 against Lincoln this season, with the teams’ final battle coming on Friday night in Kearney.

The Stars scored their only goal at 7:07 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead when Ludvig Hoff beat Storm goalie Alec Dillon on a partial breakaway.

Dillon stopped everything that came his way after the early tally, and finished with 17 saves to earn the win.

Tri-City tied the game in the second period on Freytag’s 15th goal of the year at the 11:10 mark. The forward finished off a perfect passing play started by Nick Master at the top of the Lincoln zone. After keeping the puck in, Master found Gamez open down low. The captain then swung a pass over to Freytag, who was in perfect position for a tap-in goal.

Less than two minutes later, Wahlin got on the board, wristing a shot past the glove of Lincoln netminder Peyton Jones. Chase Berger and Wilkie were credited with assists on the tally.

Gamez was next to strike, deflecting a puck home on the Storm’s only power play of the evening. Wahlin served the pass to the forward in front, while defenseman Bobby Nardella was credited with the second assist.

Although, not on the scoresheet, Storm forward Nolan Aibel made his presence felt in the contest by dropping his gloves with Lincoln’s James LaDouce for his first career fight late in the second period.

In the third period, Wilkie made it 4-1 with his 30th of the year from Wahlin and Berger at 6:16.

Then it was defenseman Tory Dello who got in on the act, scoring his first goal of the season on a shot from the point. Assists on his tally went to Nardella and forward Christopher Brown.

Finally Tri-City made it 6-1 on Chase Berger’s eighth of the season with assists from Wahlin and defenseman Jason Krych.

With the win, Tri-City earned two more points in the Western Conference standings and are now just a single point behind the Sioux City Musketeers for the top spot in both the conference and the USHL.

The Storm and Lincoln will finish off their eight-game season series on Friday night in Kearney at the Viaero Event Center at 7:30 p.m.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Kyle Eastman, Mason Appleton and Joel Herbert…

 

SCORING SUMMARY

 

1st Period
Lincoln – Ludvig Hoff (Ethan Price, Waltteri Hopponen) 7:07

2nd Period

Tri-City – Matthew Freytag (Garrett Gamez, Nick Master) 11:10
Tri-City – Jake Wahlin (Chase Berger, Chris Wilkie) 12:35
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez (power play) (Jake Wahlin, Bobby Nardella) 17:12

 

3rd Period
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (Jake Wahlin, Chase Berger) 6:16
Tri-City – Tory Dello (Bobby Nardella, Christopher Brown) 9:48
Tri-City – Chase Berger (Jason Krych, Jake Wahlin) 17:48

PENALTIES

 

1st Period
(no penalties)

2nd Period
Lincoln – James LaDouce – (Fighting), 5 min, 16:40
Lincoln – James LaDouce – (Fighting) (Misconduct), 10 min, 16:40
Tri-City – Nolan Aibel – (Fighting), 5 min, 16:40
Tri-City – Nolan Aibel – (Fighting) (Misconduct), 10 min, 16:40
Lincoln – Patrick Polino – (Roughing), 2 min, 17:04
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (Tripping), 2 min, 18:55

3rd Period
Tri-City – Tory Dello – (Holding), 2 min, 3:25
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Slashing), 2 min, 15:05
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (High Sticking), 2 min, 20:00

Power Play

Tri-City – 1/1

Lincoln – 0/3

Shots

Tri-City: 13, 16, 5 = Total: 34
Lincoln: 5, 7, 6 = Total: 18

Saves
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – 17/18
Lincoln – Peyton Jones – 28/34