The Queen City Steam tried to dig themselves out of a three-goal hole, but the Peoria Mustangs held on for a 3-1 victory.

Peoria took a 3-0 lead during the second period, only to have Queen City storm back on a Emil Sundstrom goal 3:13 into the third period to pull to two goals down.

The win gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the best of five series.

Peoria's Michael Parda was a brick wall in net, as he came up with 44 saves and let only one puck past him. Despite the solid performance, Parda will actually see his goals against average rise, as it stood at 1.0 entering the contest.

The Mustangs were helped by Cory Kettler, who registered one goal and one assist. Kettler scored 13:59 into the second period to make the score 2-0 Peoria. Nikolas Sakellaropoulos assisted on the tally. Peoria additionally got points from Robert Norton, who also had one goal and one assist to lead the team in points. Brennan Anderson also scored for Peoria. More assists for Peoria came via Phillip Edwards and Lyndon Fields, who each chipped in one.

The Steam forced Peoria goalie Parda to work between the pipes, taking 45 shots.

In addition, Queen City received assists from Nick Brusa, who had one.

The Mustangs incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors. Alec Rounds made 14 saves for Queen City on 17 shots. The Steam incurred 18 minutes in penalty time with four minors.