Muskegon, MI – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (15-6-1-0, 31 pts) mustered just one goal in a 4-1 road-loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks (17-5-0-0, 34 pts) on Friday night.

Teddy Merrill scored the lone Saints goal of the contest early in the second period, his 11th of the season to bring the Saints with a goal after trailing 2-0 to end the first. Just 90 seconds later, however, Lumberjacks' captain Tynan Lawrence answered and put Muskegon back ahead by a pair.

Jack Christ's second goal of the game put Muskegon ahead by three just past the halfway point and Dubuque could not mount a comeback.

The Saints struggled to get pucks on net in the loss on Friday, shooting 24 pucks at goaltender Carl Axelsson. Dubuque averaged over 31 shots per game entering the weekend, while the Jacks averaged over 31 shots against per game. On Friday, Muskegon limited the Fighting Saints' offense to just 24.

Dubuque fell behind at 5:47 of the first with Christ's first goal of the night before Chuck Blanchard swatted a puck out of the air past Owen Crudale to make it 2-0 later in the first. Each of those Jacks linemates recorded three points in the contest.

Crudale made 28 saves for the Fighting Saints and was pulled late with the Saints trailing 4-1. A late Dubuque power play helped the Saints to a 6-on-4 skater advantage, but Axelsson made a few crucial stops in the final minutes to keep the Saints' push at bay.

Dubuque finished the night scoreless on a pair of power-play chances, but did stop all four Muskegon power plays as well.

The two teams remain atop the USHL standings heading into action on Saturday and the Saints will look to split the series in the last of four road matchups against Muskegon this season.