CORALVILLE – It was a fairly mild-mannered series finale between the Indy Fuel and Iowa Heartlanders Saturday night. Only two penalties were given the entire game, both to Indy. Iowa outshot the Fuel 39-35 and ended up skating away with a 3-1 victory.
Defenseman Cam Bakker scored his first goal of the season and as a member of the Indy Fuel just 3:39 into the first period. Tempers appeared to flare with some minor pushing and shoving, but nothing that resulted in a penalty. The only penalty of the period was awarded to Indy’s Chase Lang for tripping with 1:16 left in the first.
The Fuel began the second period on the penalty kill and just 28 seconds in, Iowa’s Riese Zmolek scored on the power play. Less than two minutes later, Indy’s Kirill Chaika was given two minutes for interference which allowed the Heartlanders’ Tyler Busch to make it 2-1. With three minutes left in the middle frame, Clayton Phillips gave Iowa some insurance and the period ended with Iowa up 3-1.
There were no penalties and no goals for either team in the third period. Despite outshooting the Heartlanders 17-6 and pulling goaltender Cam Gray with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, the Fuel were unable to get the puck past Iowa goaltender Corbin Kaczperski and ultimately fell to the Heartlanders 3-1.
The Fuel picked up four points of six on the Iowa road trip. They return home to Indiana Farmers Coliseum this Wednesday, January 11 to face off against the Heartlanders once again. Get your tickets HERE.
You must be logged in to post a comment.