DUBUQUE, IA - The Dubuque Fighting Saints dropped a high-scoring contest 6-5 to the Green Bay Gamblers to open the preseason on Friday night.

The Saints fell behind early before tying the game at 6:04 of the first period and starting a run of three unanswered goals. Josh Giuliani scored the first of those goals on the power play before Jake Sondreal added another power-play tally for Dubuque to give the Saints their first lead at 9:44 in the first.

Colin Frank opened the scoring in the second to extend the lead to two, but Dubuque could not pull away after that. Despite goals from newcomers Juraj Pekarcik and Erik Påhlsson, the Saints surrendered five goals in the final two periods.

The final goal came with just under 15 seconds left in regulation to give Green Bay the lead the rest of the way.

Pekarcik, Påhlsson and Giuliani all recorded multi-point nights in the defeat to Green Bay. Dubuque touted five different goal scorers in the game.

The Saints are back in action on Saturday as they hit the road to take on the Chicago Steel at 7:05 p.m. CST.