CINCINNATI, OH – The Cincinnati Cyclones (10-10-4-0) earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Indy Fuel on Thursday night. Forwards Andrew Yogan, Justin Kirkland, and Brandon McNally collected the goals for the Cyclones, who have points in five of their last six games.
Cincinnati had the bulk of the chances in the first period and took an early 1-0 lead when forward Peter LeBlanc dropped a pass to Yogan, and he toe-dragged the puck around Fuel netminder Eric Levine and slammed it into the net to put the Cyclones ahead 1-0 3:20 into the frame.
That lead held up throughout the remainder of the first, and in the second the Cyclones continued to get an abundance of offensive chances. They wasted little time extending their lead to a pair when Yogan sent a pass from the right circle to Kirkland who slid the puck past Levine to put Cincinnati ahead 2-0 1:25 into the middle period.
Cincinnati peppered Levine with shots throughout the remainder of the frame, tossing 10 his way. The ‘Clones could not find the back of the net again in the period, and Cincinnati took their 2-0 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes.
The Fuel cut their deficit in half nearly four and a half minutes into the third when forward Alex Guptil found the back of the net to pull to within a goal at 2-1.
Cincinnati ramped up the offensive pressure throughout the remainder of the period, outshooting the Fuel 15-13 in the frame. Levine continued to shut down the Cyclones with remarkable save after remarkable save, however an empty-netter from McNally sealed the 3-1 win for Cincinnati with 43 seconds to go.
The Cyclones outshot Indy, 31-28 on the night, with Cincinnati goaltender Michael Houser stopping 27 to collect the win. Cincinnati wraps up their two-game series with the Fuel on Friday night at 7:35pm ET.
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