The Louisiana IceGators tried to dig themselves out of a three-goal hole, but the Knoxville Ice Bears held on for a 3-2 victory.

Knoxville made the score 3-0 on a goal by Dennis Sicard at 5:53 in the third period, and Louisiana got as close as 3-2 when Matt Viola scored 19:11 into the third period.

In the losing effort, the IceGators were paced by Viola, who racked up two goals. Viola scored the first of his two goals on the power play at 9:40 into the third period to make the score 3-1 Knoxville. Louisiana had gotten the advantage when the Ice Bears' Sicard was sent off for boarding. Jeremy Boyer picked up the assist. Viola's next tally on the power play made the score 3-2 Knoxville with 49 seconds left in the third period. Jake Hauswirth assisted on the tally.

The 23 shots that Knoxville put on net surpassed the Ice Bears' average of 20.1 shots per game this season.

Knoxville was helped by Matthew Paton, who registered one goal. Paton scored 3:14 into the third period to make the score 2-0 Knoxville. Ryan Salvis picked up the assist. Knoxville additionally got points from Sy Nutkevitch, who also tallied one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Other players who recorded assists for Knoxville were Jake Johnson, Ben Power, Eric Satim, and Francis Drolet, who contributed one each.

The IceGators managed to stay out of the box better than usual, registering one minor for two minutes in penalty time. Louisiana wound up below its season average of 17.0 penalty minutes per game. The IceGators' offense was clicking better than usual and put 41 shots on goal during the game, better than the 20.4 shots per game they average.

In addition, Louisiana received assists from Jordan Ciccarello, who had one.

The Ice Bears' Braely Torris stopped 39 shots out of the 41 that he faced. Knoxville incurred eight minutes in penalty time with four minors. Scott Diebold rejected 20 shots on goal for Louisiana. The IceGators registered two goals on four power play opportunities.