The Helena Bighorns scored five goals in the second period to pull away from the Gillette Wild and clinch an 8-2 win.

Gillette's 12 penalties came back to haunt it, as the Wild let up five goals while on the penalty kill.

Helena was paced by Austin Loes, who had one goal. Loes scored 1:22 into the second period to make the score 3-1 Helena.

The Bighorns were often in penalty trouble, totaling nine minors and one major for 33 minutes in penalty time. Helena had been averaging 20.0 minutes in penalties per game. The Bighorns forced Wild's goaltenders to work all game long, firing 55 shots and forcing 47 saves. Josh Beatty made 22 stops and Michael Kitts made 25.

Helena also got points from Nick Okada, who also grabbed one goal and one assist, Dylan Webster, who also registered one goal and three assists to lead the team in points, Logan Henne, who also racked up one goal and one assist, and Sebastian Hansson, who also tallied one goal and one assist. Helena also had goals scored by Jacob Wolter, John Bonta, and Damon Hanson, who each put in one. In addition, Helena received assists from Parker Olson and Austin Buckholtz, who contributed one a piece and Ryan Webber and Brian Skillicorn, who each chipped in two.

Gillette forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up 11 minors and one major for 27 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 23.0 minutes per game the Wild had been spending in the box. Helena was unable to stop Gillette from sending pucks towards the net, and the Wild eventually piled up 32 shots on goal. Gillette was ineffective while on the power play, as it was held to two goals off of nine man advantages.

The Wild were helped by Brandon Castleberry, who had one goal. Castleberry scored on the power play 12:44 into the second period to make the score 4-2 Helena. Gillette had gained a power play chance when Wolter was whistled for kneeing. Darren Banks provided the assist. Gillette also got a goal from Andrii Istominov as well. More assists for Gillette came via Moco Willis, who had one.

Austin Brihn rejected 30 shots on goal for the Bighorns.