INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Indy Fuel claimed their fourth consecutive victory on home ice Thursday night at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum where they edged the Quad City Mallards 2-1.
Center Mike Neal’s team-high eighth goal of the campaign at the 7:19 mark of the second period proved to be the game winning goal for the Fuel as the strike lifted Indy into a 2-0 lead at the second intermission. Left wing Matt Rupert started the game’s scoring with his sixth of the season at 9:10 of the opening stanza. His goal produced an early 1-0 lead which the Fuel never relinquished.
Neal’s goal was his seventh in the last eight games while Matt Rupert ran his personal goal-scoring streak to three games equaling twin brother, Ryan, for the longest goal-scoring streak thus far this season for the Fuel. Regarding Ryan Rupert, his assist on Matt’s goal was his ninth point in the last seven games (3 goals, 6 assists).
Rookie goaltender Etienne Marcoux continued his larcenous-like ways for the victors, repelling 37 of 38 Mallards’ shots as the visitors outshot the Fuel, 38-35 and 12-6 in the third period when Quad City made a late push following a Chris Francis goal at the 12:08 juncture.
The victory for the Fuel swelled their win streak on home ice to four in a row, equaling their longest home win streak of last season. During that span, Indy has been stingy and stellar defensively, allowing only 5-GA for a GAA of a miserly 1.25. Dating back to last season, it was also Indy’s fourth consecutive home win over the Mallards.
Overall, the Fuel are 3-1-0 in their last four starts, outscoring the opposition 14-7 in that time and 4-2-0 through their last half-dozen dates with a distinct advantage of 19-11 in the scoring department.
With the Thursday night win, the Fuel climb into sixth place in the Western Conference Central Division Standings, improving their record to 8-11-3 for 19 points; two points better than Quad City while creeping up to within three points of fifth place Kalamazoo.
Next up for the resurgent Indy club is a two-games home-and-home series against their principal archrivals, the Fort Wayne Komets. The Fuel will be in Fort Wayne Friday night with the game broadcast on 1070thefan.com at 7:30 p.m. Indy will cap this busy slate of four games in five nights and six games in nine days Saturday night back on home ice in an encore presentation against the Komets at 7:35 p.m. at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
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