SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A late goal from
Nace Langus propelled No. 15/17 Augustana to a 2-1 victory over Omaha on Thursday night inside Midco Arena in the opening half of the weekend home-and-home series. Augustana finished with a 42-29 shot advantage and held Omaha scoreless over the final two periods.
The Vikings generated early pressure on a power play at 19:41, putting multiple attempts toward William Lacelle before the Omaha penalty expired. The visitors created the next scoring push and Maël Lavigne scored at 13:15 off assists from Marc Lajoie and Joel Plante to put Omaha ahead 1-0. Augustana answered after several chances of its own, with
Heath Nelson scoring at 9:58 from
Easton Young and
Owen Baumgartner to tie the game at 1-1.
Mathis Langevin handled a late Omaha stretch, and Augustana's final power play came up empty before the teams went to the first intermission tied 1-1.
Augustana again saw early looks in the second period through Bischoff, Langus, Young and Baumgartner, while Langevin handled an Omaha push in the opening minutes. The Mavericks went on the power play but Augustana killed it off with Langevin making saves before
Landon Fandel blocked Cameron Briere's shot. The teams traded pipe shots in the middle of the period, with Lajoie hitting one for Omaha at 8:16 and
Leonid Bulgakov doing the same for Augustana at 7:31. Augustana killed another Maverick power play and Lacelle stopped late chances from
Will Howard and Young as the second period ended scoreless.
The first special-teams chance of the third period for Augustana after an Omaha holding penalty at 19:40, but the Mavericks killed the power play despite attempts from
Cole Burtch and
Brett Meerman. Omaha generated pressure soon after, forcing Langevin into several saves while Augustana blocked multiple attempts before
Siamion Marshchanok returned at 10:00. The Vikings pushed back with chances from Baumgartner, who hit the pipe at 9:44, and later put multiple shots on Lacelle during a power play that ended at 3:39. Langus then appeared out of thin air to score at even strength from Bischoff with 1:12 left, giving Augustana a 2-1 lead. Omaha soon called timeout and went to an empty net in the final minute, but to no avail as Augustana closed out the 2-1 win.
Game Moments
- Nelson scored his first career goal during the first period
- Langevin accumulated 28 saves on the night
- Three separate Vikings tallied assists while two different Vikings scored a goal
- Fandel collected six of the Vikings' 15 total blocked shots
- Jacob Fletcher won eight faceoffs
- Nelson led the Vikings with nine total shots
- Augustana killed off three power plays
Goals
- Lavigne struck first for Omaha 6:45 into the first period off assists from Marc Lajoie and Joel Plante
- Nelson netted the equalizer for his first career goal at the 10:02 mark in the first period
- Bischoff pulled a turnover off the Mavericks, setting up Langus for the eventual game-winner that put the Vikings ahead 2-1 with less than 90 seconds remaining
Up Next
Augustana will travel south to Omaha for the back half of the weekend home-and-home series with a game inside Baxter Arena at 6 p.m.
--GoAugie.com--
