Blake Montgomery and his Lincoln Stars teammates fell for only the second time to an Eastern Conference opponent with a 4 - 1 loss to the Dubuque Fighting Saints at the Ice Box.
Dubuque scored three times in the third period with two empty-net goals. Gavin Cornforth scored on a rebound at the far post at the 10:40 mark of the frame.
Etienne Lessard scored the Stars' lone goal with a shot from the right point at the 4:30 mark of the third. His heavily-screened shot from the near wall tucked in just underneath the cross bar to tie the game.
A turnover behind the Stars net led to the game's first goal at the 17:41 mark of the second when Cooper Dennis one-timed the puck into the top right corner of the net.
Lincoln emptied its net with just over two-and-a-half minutes to go but surrendered empty-net tallies at the 18:17 and 19:10 marks.
