SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Omaha Hockey twice pulled within a goal Friday night but the Mvericks' rally fell short as Augustana earned a 7-4 win in Sioux Falls, S.D. at Midco Arena.
Omaha (6-11-0) scored all its goals in the final 30 minutes as
Marc Lajoie had a goal and an assist and
Spencer Sova finished with two assists.
But Omaha played from behind nearly the entire night as Augustana (10-5-3) scored on its first shot on goal and led the rest of the way.
Augustana's Leonid Bulgakov scored two minutes into the game, then he added a power-play goal with 6:47 left in the first period.
Omaha had a 14-12 advantage in the shots on goal in the first period, but Augustana took the 2-0 lead to the first intermission.
Maxime Pellerin attempted six of those shots for the Mavs.
Omaha killed off an Augustana power play to start the second period, but the Vikings made it 3-0 in the third minute shortly after the teams went to even strength.
Omaha then made its push. With 9:24 left in the second period, Lajoie took a pass from
Sean Tschigerl across the crease and rocketed a shot into the Augustana net. It was the fifth goal of the season for Lajoie.
Omaha kept the momentum, pulling within 3-2 less than four minutes later. That goal came from
Samuel Huo, who scored after
Trevor Wong won a face-off in the Augustana zone.
Augustana's stemmed the tide by scoring with two minutes left in the second period, but Omaha answered 2:10 into the third period on a
Marcus Nguyen's power-play goal to pull the Mavs within 4-3.
The Vikings, though, scored two minutes later and was up 6-3 when
Brett Hyland scored from the right wing with 1:59 left to cut Omaha's deficit to 6-4.
Augustana added an empty-netter in the final minute.
Omaha finished with 36 shots on goal compared to 30 for Augustana.
Dawson Cowan made 23 saves for the Mavs.
It was the first time since Nov. 1 that Omaha has scored more than three goals in a game.
Omaha and Augustana will play the series finale at 6 p.m. CT Saturday on Midco Sports Plus. Listen live on Omaha on 1290 KOIL or on the Varsity Network.
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