After a scoreless opening period, Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead 4:47 into the second while on the power play when a shot from defenseman Justin Baudry was tipped into the goal by Vaive for his 16thgoal of the season, in his 500thgame of his professional career.
The Fuel were not deterred and found some power play magic of their own late in the frame, when a 5-on-3 goal from forward Alex Krushelnyski and a 5-on-4 marker from forward Derian Plouffe sent Indy to a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Cincinnati busted the game open in the third, as 8:17 in, forward Pascal Aquin sent a pass to Milan, and he fired the puck in from the left side to tie the game back up, 2-2.
The Cyclones regained the lead for good at the 16:26 mark of the frame when Johnson sent a pass to Schultz, and he rifled a shot in from the right circle to put Cincinnati up, 3-2. With one minute remaining, the Cyclones added their first of two empty-netters when Johnson hustled down the wing, beat a defender to the puck and slid it in to extend Cincinnati’s lead to 4-2.
The game was finalized with 18 seconds to go when forward Brady Vail won a defensive zone face-off to DeBrincat, and he sent a shot down the ice into the empty net to seal Cincinnati’s 5-2 win.
The Cyclones outshot the Fuel, 29-22, with goaltender Jamie Phillips stopping 20 for his first win as a ‘Clone. Cincinnati and Indy wrap up their three-game weekend, and 11-game season series on Sunday afternoon at Heritage Bank Center. Face-off is set for 3:00pm ET.
With Cincinnati Cyclones release