WATERLOO, IA - The Dubuque Fighting Saints (37-14-1-2, 77 pts) led for all but 55 seconds on Saturday in a 2-1 victory over the Waterloo Black Hawks (26-15-6-4, 62 pts).

With a 1-0 lead late in the first, the Saints faced a five-minute penalty kill after a major penalty against Kristian Kostadinski. With 1:34 remaining on the penalty, James Mackey was called for slashing and Waterloo's nearly 30% home power play had a two-man advantage for that time. Dubuque killed the entire stretch, going five-for-five in the one-goal win.

Dubuque won its seventh one-goal game over Waterloo this season, with the game-winning goal by Jonathan Morello at 12:45 of the second period. The goal came just 27 seconds after Waterloo tied the game at one and the Saints never surrendered the lead. 

Kaedan Hawkins' goal at 12:18 of the second tied the game at one for Waterloo after Josh Giuliani scored his 20th of the season just 28 seconds into the first period. Giuliani's linemates Heikki Ruohonen and Cole Spicer set up the goal to kick off Giuliani's 100th-career USHL game. The opening-goal marked the 12th-straight game in which Dubuque opened the scoring.

Liam Beerman made 23 saves on 24 shots to lift his save percentage to .915 on the season and take sole possession of the league-lead. 

After Hawkins tied the game, Gavin Cornforth worked a free puck down low to Colin Frank and Frank fed in front to Morello. A redirect beat Kam Hendrickson and gave the Saints the lead back. Cornforth extended his team-leading point total to 46 with the assist on Morello's eighth goal of the season.

Dubuque's win extended its lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to eight points over second-place Youngstown. The Saints have a nine-point lead on third-place Madison ahead of two matchups with the Capitols next week. The Capitols wrap up their weekend on Sunday against the U17s.

The win extended the Saints' point streak to eight games, tying a season-high mark set from Dec. 28 to Jan. 18. Dubuque returns to play on Thursday in Middleton against the Capitols.