LINCOLN, Neb. – The Sioux Falls Stampede fell 6-2 to the Lincoln Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Friday night at the Ice Box, putting Sioux Falls in a must-win situation heading into Game 4.

Special teams proved decisive, as the Stampede surrendered four power-play goals while only converting twice on nine opportunities.

Lincoln opened the scoring at 10:12 of the first period when forward Cooper Williams capitalized on the power play. Forward John Hirschfeld extended the lead to 2-0 late in the period following an expiring man advantage.

The Stars carried the momentum into the second period, striking just 40 seconds in as Kade Kohanski netted his fifth goal of the postseason on the power play. Kohanski added another power play tally at 7:28 to extend the lead to 4-0.

Sioux Falls responded at 15:03 of the period when forward Thomas Zocco scored on the power play with Joey Macrina and Brent Solomon providing the assists. The Stampede out shot Lincoln 22-9 in the second period and finished with a 59-46 edge in shots overall.

Stars forward Alex Pelletier extended the lead with a power-play goal at 7:12 of the third period to make it 5-1. With the goaltender pulled, Evan Malkhassian added an empty-net goal to make it a five-goal advantage.

Defenseman Markus Jakobsen scored a late power-play goal with 6:19 remaining in regulation to finalize the score at 6-2.

Goaltender Linards Feldbergs made 40 saves on 45 shots, while Charles Menard started in net for Lincoln and stopped 57 of 59 shots.

With the win, Lincoln takes a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Stampede will look to extend their season in Game 4 on Saturday night at the Ice Box with puck drop scheduled for 6:05 p.m. A win would force a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Sioux Falls on Tuesday, April 28 at 7:05 p.m.