The Cyclones drew first blood 4:04 into the first when Wideman rifled a shot through traffic from the high slot and in to put Cincinnati on top, 1-0. After the Fuel tied the game, 1-1, on a power play goal from forward Matt Rupert 34 seconds later, Cincinnati regained the lead at the 6:00 mark when a shot from Marnell was kicked out, but Vaive was in front to bang in the rebound to put the ‘Clones back on top, 2-1.
Cincinnati tacked on one more before the end of the frame when defenseman Arvin Atwal threw a centering pass in front, and Dorowicz redirected the puck past Fuel goaltender Matt Tomkins to put Cincinnati out front, 3-1, through 20 minutes.
In the second, Indy cut the Cyclones lead to 3-2 when forward Logan Nelson lit the lamp on the power play, and in the third Indy tied the game, 3-3, when forward Ryan Rupert scored 2:47 in. The teams traded quality scoring chances throughout the remainder of the third, however neither side was able to find the back of the net and the game headed to overtime.
In the extra session, the sides continued to trade scoring chances, and the Cyclones survived a two-minute penalty to keep the game even, 3-3, into the shootout. In the skills competition, Marnell scored the only goal for either side to send Cincinnati to a 4-3 shootout win. The ‘Clones outshot Indy, 35-33 on the evening, with goaltender Michael Houser steering aside 30 in the win. The teams wrap up their home-and-home on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Arena. Face-off is scheduled for 3:05pm ET.
With Cincinnati Cyclones release
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