INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Despite another energetic, spirited effort Friday night, the Indy Fuel bowed to visiting Fort Wayne’s three-goal third period surge in a Komets 4-2 triumph at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
In the first of nine clashes to be waged between the two in-state, in-division rivals, the Komets maintained their remarkable third period mastery of the Fuel, facsimile to last season when the Fort Wayners outscored the Fuel in that fateful final frame, 23-4.
In a hotly-contested, fiercely-competitive battle for the first 40-minutes, the two teams were knotted at 1-1 with both goals struck 4:26 apart in the first frame. Mason Baptista scored at the 2:05 mark to lift the Komets into an early but short-lived 1-0 advantage before Fuel team captain Mike Neal delivered his first of a pair of goals to deadlock matters at 1-1.
Though the second period was scoreless, it was not devoid of plenty of action as both goaltenders, Garrett Bartus of the Komets and Etienne Marcoux of the host Fuel were flawless as both teams were presented a trio of power play opportunities with both netminders flashing some lustrous leather larceny.
However, once again, the third period belonged to the Komets as they triggered a three-goal torrent in 5:41, sparked by a Gabriel Desjardins power play goal at the 12:39 mark, breaking the tie. Two more Fort Wayne strikes followed from Ryan Culkin (game-winning goal) and Cody Sol before Neal connected in the game’s final minute to complete the game’s scoring and final result.
The Komets outshot the Fuel 51-22 overall and 17-3 in a dominating third stanza. The 51-shots were the most surrendered by Indy through the first 15-games of the season while their 22-shots were the fewest registered at this stage of the season. Fort Wayne outshot the Fuel 38-14 in the last two periods combined. The Fuel power play was 0-for-4 while the Komets were 1-for-7, being the recipients of all three third period man advantages.
With the setback, the Fuel saw their modest two-game win streak stopped, lowering their record to 4-8-3-0 (11 points) for the season and 3-4-0-0 at home where they are now 2-2-0-0 through the first four games of their six game home stand. Indy is 1-6-3-0 in its last ten decisions against their archrivals and 1-3-2-0 in their last half-dozen dates at home against the Komets.
Next up is the first appearance of the season for the Kansas City Mavericks at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum Saturday night in a 7:35 pm face-off.
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