Madison built an early three-goal lead and withstood a Fighting Saints comeback for the home win.
A three-goal deficit in the first period doomed the Dubuque Fighting Saints in Madison Saturday night, as the Capitols prevailed 4-3.
The Saints had some early chances to score, but repeatedly came up empty. The Capitols cashed in on those missed opportunities when Ryker Lee scored on a breakaway with eight minutes left in the opening frame.
The Caps extended the lead to 2-0 when Lee set up Finn Brink in the final two minutes of the first.
Just 44 seconds later, the Capitols won a faceoff in the Dubuque end and Ryan Buckberger put in a shot from the point for a 3-0 lead as the teams headed to the first intermission.
The Saints finally got on the board in the middle frame on Dryden Allen’s third tally of the season, which came from the point.
Madison scored early in the third to get the lead back to three at 4-1. Lucas Van Vliet put in a wrist shot past Caps goalie Caleb Heil to bring Dubuque back within two with 6:52 left. It was Van Vliet’s third goal in as many games and his 15th of the season.
Just over two minutes later, the Saints went to work in the offensive zone and set up Josh Niedermayer’s fourth goal of the season to make the score 4-3.
That’s where it would remain, however, as the Saints pulled Jan Spunar with 90 seconds remaining for the extra attacker but could not score.
Dubuque could only manage 22 shots on goal against Heil, who picked up the win. Spunar stopped 20 of 24 shots in the loss.
The Capitols move their record to 23-11-3-1 on the season, while Dubuque falls to 29-12-0-1.