The Columbus Cottonmouths, which found themselves down a man often, weathered the Fayetteville FireAntz's power play opportunities and emerged with a 5-2 victory.

Columbus was paced by Jordan Draper, who had one goal and one assist. Draper scored 14:29 into the second period to make the score 3-1 Columbus. Levi Lind provided the assist.

The Cottonmouths were often in penalty trouble, totaling 10 minors and four majors for 50 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 24.0 minutes per game Columbus had been spending in the box.

Columbus also got points from Jason Gray, who also grabbed one goal and two assists to lead the team in points, Sam Bowles, who also finished with one goal and one assist, and Matt Gingera, who also tallied one goal and one assist. Alex Gallant also scored for Columbus. More assists for Columbus came via Dan Bremner, who had two and Neilsson Arcibal and Preston Shupe, who contributed one a piece.

Fayetteville forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up six minors and four majors for 52 minutes in penalty time. The FireAntz surpassed its season average of 19.0 penalty minutes per game. Fayetteville excelled on the penalty kill, not giving up a single goal in four chances. The FireAntz were below their usual level of shot production, taking 21 shots compared to the 27.6 Fayetteville averages.

The FireAntz were led by Brandon Greenside, who registered one goal and one assist. Greenside scored on the power play 7:59 into the third period to make the score 4-2 Columbus. A slashing penalty on Gingera had put Fayetteville on the power play. John Clewlow picked up the assist. Fayetteville also got a goal from Derek Elliott as well. In addition, Fayetteville received assists from Corey Tamblyn and Matt Smyth, who each chipped in one.

The Cottonmouths' Andrew Loewen stopped 19 shots out of the 21 that he faced. For Columbus, Gallant was ejected from the game. Peter Skoggard made 23 saves for the FireAntz on 28 shots. Fayetteville registered one goal on eight power play opportunities. For the FireAntz, Tamblyn and Brandon Richardson were ejected from the contest.