The Denver Cutthroats came close to giving away a three-goal lead to the Fort Worth Brahmas, but did just enough to escape with a 5-3 victory.

Denver led by three goals at one point and ended with the victory. The largest advantage in the game came when the Cutthroats' Brad Smyth's scored at 15:43 in the first period to put Denver up 3-0.

A.J. Gale quarterbacked the Cutthroats' offense to perfection and bagged four assists in Denver's win over Fort Worth.

The Cutthroats stifled the Brahmas' power play, and did not give up a single goal while down a man. Denver's offense was helped by the efforts of its defensemen, who managed to put 15 shots on net during the game.

Denver also got points from Jean-Philipp Chabot, who also racked up one goal and one assist. Markus Lauridsen also scored for Denver. In addition, Denver received assists from Sean Zimmerman, who had one and Troy Schwab and Kyle Quincey, who contributed two a piece.

Fort Worth failed to reach its usual level of shot production, putting 20 pucks on goal after averaging 26.7 shots per game this season.

The Brahmas were helped by Joe Tolles, who finished with one goal. Tolles scored 9:45 into the second period to make the score 3-3. Daniel Spivak assisted on the tally. Fort Worth also got a goal from Phil Fox as well. More assists for Fort Worth came via Sy Nutkevitch, Chad Woollard, Tomas Klempa, Ross Rouleau, and TJ Fox, who each chipped in one.

The Cutthroats' Kent Patterson stopped 17 shots out of the 20 that he faced. Denver incurred 14 minutes in penalty time with seven minors. Larry Sterling made eight saves before being replaced by Brad Fogal, who took the loss and made 17 saves. Fort Worth incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors.