Mississippi RiverKings tried to dig itself out of a two-goal hole, but the Knoxville Ice Bears held on for a 2-1 victory.

Knoxville made the score 2-0 on a goal by Trever Hertz at 4:27 in the third period, and Mississippi RiverKings got as close as 2-1 when Leo Thomas scored 19:12 into the third period.

Mississippi RiverKings was stymied by the Ice Bears' netminder Bryan Hince, who stopped 37 shots during the victory. Hince certainly lowered his goals against average, which was 2.42 entering the contest.

Knoxville also got a goal from Dennis Sicard as well. In addition, Knoxville received assists from Andrew Bonazza and Jason Price, who contributed one each.

Mississippi RiverKings managed to stay out of the box better than usual, registering one minor for two minutes in penalty time. Mississippi RiverKings ended up below its season average of 13.0 penalty minutes per game. Mississippi RiverKings relied on a core group of players for most of its offense, as Ryan Marcuz, Thomas and Linden Bahm took 20 of the team's 38 shots.

More assists for Mississippi RiverKings came via Charles Mosey, who had one.

Knoxville incurred four minutes in penalty time with two minors. Garrett Sheehan rejected 19 shots on goal for Mississippi RiverKings. Mississippi RiverKings registered zero goals on two power play opportunities.