Coralville, Iowa – The Iowa Heartlanders allowed three goals in the third period to the Indy Fuel and dropped, 4-2, Wednesday at Xtream Arena. Matt Petgrave (2:07), Jesse Tucker (7:09) and Sahil Panwar (18:05, ENG) silenced Iowa with the goals in the third and the Fuel fired 17 shots in the third frame. Riley Mercer faced 33 shots the final two periods and stopped 30 of them. He made a career-high 37 saves in defeat. 
Owen Flores won with 21 saves.
Ryan McGuire scored the game’s first goal with 7:40 left in the first, snapping it in from the slot on a centering pass from Brandon Schultz.
Brett Moravec tied the game at one on the power play at 1:54 of the second, but Nolan Orzeck converted on the power play four minutes later to give Iowa a 2-1 lead. Orzeck slapped the puck off a Fuel player in front and it trickled over the line.
Iowa visits the Walleye next Friday at 6:15 p.m. and Saturday at 6:15 p.m. After the ECHL holiday break, the Heartlanders open up the post-Christmas slate with three games against the Bloomington Bison. Bluey Night is Fri., Dec. 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Xtream Arena. The Heartlanders visit the Bison Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 4:00 p.m.
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