Matt Leitner and Nate Condon each tallied a goal and an assist as the Fargo Force outlasted the Omaha Lancers 4-3 Friday evening at the Urban Plains Center. Fargo’s win, coupled with Omaha’s regulation loss, means the two teams are tied atop the West Division standings with 59 points. Omaha is now 28-10-3 on the year and has now dropped six consecutive games to the Force dating back to last season. Fargo has now collected at least one standings point in each of its last 18 games overall. The Force are 15-0-3 during that stretch.
Omaha grabbed the game’s opening marker with less than five minutes remaining in period one when Dennis Brown fired a wrist shot from the high slot which grazed off the blocker of Fargo’s Rayn Massa and into the back of the net. Seth Ambroz and Erik Haula registered assists on Omaha’s power play marker netted 15:18 into the opening frame. The goal was Brown’s 3rd of the year and his first tally in the last 35 games.
Fargo wasted little time evening the contest in period two as just three minutes into the frame Leitner jabbed a loose puck in the crease past Lancers’ goaltender Jeff Teglia for his 17th goal of the season and fifth marker this year against Omaha. Nicholas Romanick and Nick Oliver assisted on the even strength goal. The Force then grabbed its first lead of the night and quickly added to it as Fargo landed a pair of shorthanded goals just 22 seconds apart in the final two minutes of the period. First, Connor Allen notched his 16th goal of the year on a two-on-one with Leitner. Then, Condon chipped a bouncing puck past Omaha’s Aaron Ave clearing himself for a shorthanded breakout that resulted in his 19th marker of the season. The two man-down tallies were Fargo’s 8th and 9th shorthanded goals of the season.
The Lancers got back to within a single goal less than a minute and a half into the final frame when, while on a 5-on-3 power play, Haula found a loose puck to the right of the crease in chipping home his 22nd goal of the season. Ambroz and Brown assisted on Omaha’s league-leading 57th man advantage tally of the year. Fargo put the pressure right back on the Lancers though and regained its two-goal advantage less than five minutes later when Chase Grant chipped a loose puck from the right wing inside the left post for his 19th goal of the season. Condon and Corey Leivermann assisted on what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal. The Lancers closed the margin to one again as Matt White’s orchestration from the left wing set up a cross-ice feed to Markison for his 6th goal of the season but that’s as close as the Lancers would get.
Massa earned the victory in goal for the Force turning aside 29 of Omaha’s 32 shots in the goal. The goaltender from Littleton, Colorado is now 15-1-1 on the year. Meanwhile, Teglia suffered the loss in goal for Omaha despite 31 saves on 35 Fargo shots. Teglia is now 22-8-2 on the year.
The Lancers are back in action tomorrow evening when they return to the Urban Plains Center in Fargo to conclude their weekend series with the Force.
Scoring Summary
Period 1
Omaha – Dennis Brown (PP) (Erik Haula, Matt White) 15:18
Period 2
Fargo – Matt Leitner (Nicholas Romanick, Nick Oliver) 3:03
Fargo – Garrett Allen (SH) (Matt Leitner) 18:18Fargo – Nate Condon (SH) (unassisted) 18:40
Period 3
Omaha – Erik Haula (PP) (Seth Ambroz, Dennis Brown) 1:23
Fargo – Chase Grant (Nate Condon, Corey Leivermann) 6:17
Omaha – Colin Markison (Matt White, Erik Haula) 17:26
Shots
Omaha – 8, 12, 12 – Total 32
Fargo – 12, 13, 10 – Total 35
SavesOmaha – Jeff Teglia 31 (35 shots)
Fargo – Ryan Massa 29 (32 shots)
Power Play
Omaha 2/5
Fargo 0/6
