MUSKEGON, MI - The Dubuque Fighting Saints (34-12-3-3, 74 pts) downed the Muskegon Lumberjacks (31-20-1-1, 64 pts) behind 36 saves from Kevin Reidler on Saturday night.

Early in the third period, the Fighting Saints took a penalty while already short-handed and were faced with 58 seconds of a two-man disadvantage. During the kill, Dubuque blocked multiple shots, and eventually allowed a prime chance at the circle for the league's leading point-scorer Matvei Gridin. Reidler slid across to his left to rob Gridin and keep the Saints in front 2-1. The Saints killed the rest of the penalty time to hold onto the lead. 

After nearly an hour delay to the start of the game due to poor ice conditions, the Fighting Saints opened up with a strong start to the game. After generating a few chances, Teddy Merrill converted on a wrister to open the scoring at 3:35 of the first period. Josh Giuliani and Nick Romeo forced the turnover down low and the puck ended up on Merrill's stick in front.

The Saints held that lead until close to the mid-way point of the second when Erik Påhlsson created a chance by knifing through the Jacks' zone. His chance was stopped, but he found Joona Väisänen in front on the rebound and Väisänen snuck it through to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

Just a couple minutes later, however, David Klee scored on a rebound in front of Reidler to bring Muskegon within one. After that, the Saints locked down defensively and were excellent on the penalty kill.

In addition to the early kills in the third, the Saints went perfect in four chances overall. It was the sixth-straight perfect game for the Saints penalty kill. Reidler stopped Gridin on a few other prime chances during the game and the Saints held on despite 37 Muskegon shots. Reidler's 23rd victory ties him for the league lead in victories.

Noah Powell added an empty-netter with 9.3 seconds left to ice the game for the Saints. Dubuque has swept two road series in the past three weeks to help extend its lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to seven points ahead of now second-place Green Bay.

The Saints host Madison on Friday before Green Bay comes to Dubuque for the final meeting of the regular season between the Saints and the Gamblers.