The Eagles played what was arguably their best first period of the series in taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Penner continued to play strong between the pipes for Colorado as he stopped all 12 Mississippi shots in the opening frame. And at 16:15, it was the unheralded third line that got the game's first goal when Adam Hogg -- facing the end boards -- sent a no-look, backhand feed from below the goal line to Steve Haddon on the doorstep, where he beat Kevin Beech for the line's first goal of the playoffs.

Colorado took a 2-0 lead at 13:57 of the second period with a power-play goal from Ed McGrane following a tripping penalty on Stephen Margeson that took out the knee of Ryan Tobler and left him down on the ice for several minutes; Justin DaCosta, a recently-signed amateur standing up for the shaken veteran, then traded blows with Garrett Larson away from the play.

McGrane's goal extended his point streak to 26 games and came after Riley Nelson fed him from high in the right circle for a blast from the point. Mississippi countered that score with their only goal of the game at 15:11 when Joe Markusen's shot from the right boards made its way through a maze of moving bodies and slipped past Penner. Markusen did more damage later in the period when his hit took out Hogg's knee, sending the second Eagles player in the period off the ice.

After being outshot 20-6 in the second period, the Eagles and Penner withstood another 16 shots in the third -- including the final two minutes with an extra attacker for the RiverKings -- to hold on for the win and a commanding three games to none lead in the series; no team in CHL history has ever come back from such a deficit.

Game 4 will be played on Thursday, also at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Miss. Game 5, if necessary, would be played Friday night at the same venue. If needed, Games 6 and 7 would be back at the Budweiser Events Center on Sunday and Monday respectively.