DUBUQUE – The champs were mad, aggressive, playing desperate and with intense purpose, and in no mood to lose this episode of USHL Fight Night.

The league knows no fury like the Dubuque Fighting Saints scorned.

The Saints' fiery resolve and gangbusters first period meant the end of Cedar Rapids RoughRiders' five-game winning streak Saturday night.

Dubuque chased goalie Chris Birdsall from the net with three early goals and the reigning USHL champions roughed up and cooled off the hot RoughRiders 5-2 before a sellout crowd of 3,406 at the Mystique Community Ice Center.

“Dubuque played really well,” Cedar Rapids coach Mark Carlson said. “They played very hard. We had to have better toughness. We didn't come prepared.”

The chippy Saints (27-14-3) played tougher than burnt steak.

In the season's dog days, the RoughRiders (28-15-2) had been feasting on everyone the schedule throws at them, winning nine of their last 10 games. But they couldn't tame the hungry defending Clark Cup champions, who had been backtracking out of prime playoff position and fallen three points and two games back of Cedar Rapids in the Eastern Conference race over the past two weeks.

Dubuque, loser of its last five games coming in and mired in its worst slump of the season, came out with aggression and turbo speed on its attacks in the first period. After being blanked by league leader Omaha Friday night in their first home shutout loss in three years, the Saints did a 24 hour 180.

“Give them credit. They came out really hard,” RoughRiders defenseman Scott Moldenhauer said.

The Saints blitzed Birdsall for three goals in the game's first 13:35 with each score coming off blistering goal rushes. Dyan Gambrell rifled in a lighting cross-net feed  from Shane Iserman, who beat everyone on a charge down the right boards just 4:06 into the game.

Four minutes later, Brett Boeing rocked a 60-foot laser past Birdsall for a 2-0 lead. At 13:35, Shane Kavanagh riddled Birdsall with a dazzling wrap-around goal on which he lost his stick but found the net. With 4:35 left in the first period and Dubuque up 3-0, Carlson pulled Birdsall for USHL midseason all-star Danny Tirone.

If the first period was a bad dream for the RoughRiders, the second period opened like a nightmare. Cedar Rapids labored to generate any offense over the frame's first 10 minutes and couldn't even launch a shot on its first of two failed power plays to open the frame. Jordan Klimek made it a 4-0 Dubuque lead at 13:23 of the second period.

This wasn't the Americans versus the Russians but it had all the intensity, passion and atmosphere of an Olympic ice battle. Team-wide scuffles broke out twice along the boards in the second period. An ugly melee at 15:56 of the second ignited by a hard Dubuque check into the glass saw winger Carlos Fornaris sent off the ice for a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind, then a 10-minute misconduct penalty for inflaming the ruckus. Dubuque's Keegan Ford drew a 10-minute major of his own in the third period for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The game featured four major fights and had the busy officiating crew handing out a total of 57 penalty minutes.

“It was a good, physical game,” Carlson said.

Defenseman Mark Auk salvaged a lousy period for Cedar Rapids by lasering home a shot with 2:27 left in the second.

But mounting just three shots over the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Riders couldn't generate any semblance of momentum.

Gambrell's wrister made it 5-1 just 39 seconds into the third and the Riders' winning streak was on ice. Dylan Steman's late unassisted goal was much too little, too late and the end of Cedar Rapids' offense for the night.

Dubuque outshot the RoughRiders 35-24 for the night. Cedar Rapids couldn't do much of anything when it had a man advantage. The RoughRiders were a cold 1-for-6 on the power play.

Like they do with any 'W,' the flat loss was already fading from the RoughRiders' memory as they look ahead to the schedule's next test: Friday at Sioux City. Cedar Rapids has done much over the last month to ensure it won't miss the postseason after sitting out the Clark Cup playoffs in 2013, but they won't look any further than tomorrow.

“We don't even get into that (playoff positioning),” Carlson said. “We just focus on the next game.”

Cedar Rapids    0    1    1    -- 2
Dubuque         3    1    1    -- 5

Scoring Summary
1st Period: DUB: Dylan Gambrell (Shane Eiserman, Karson Kuhlman) 4:06, Brett Boeing (Jarrid Privitera) 8:34, Shane Kavanagh (Jason Ford, Eric Robinson) 13:35.

2nd Period: DUB: Jordan Klimek (Max McHugh, Eiserman) 13:23; CR: Mark Auk (Ivan Provorov) 17:33.

3rd Period: DUB: Gambrell (Keegan Ford) :39; CR: Dylan Steman (unassisted) 12:38.

Shots – Dubuque 35; Cedar Rapids 24. Power Plays: Cedar Rapids 1-6; Dubuque 1-1. Saves – CR: Chris Birdsall 10 (13 shots), Danny Tirone 20 (22 shots); DUB: Kevin Reich 22 (24 shots). Penalty minutes – Dubuque 32; Cedar Rapids 25. Attendance – 3,406.