CINCINNATI, Ohio – It was a battle between the top two teams in the Central division Friday night in downtown Cincinnati. Heading into the game, the Cyclones trailed the Fuel by five standings points. They would end the night trailing by just three, as they picked up the 3-1 win at the Heritage Bank Center in front of 5,263 fans.
The Fuel took the 1-0 lead at 2:03 of the first period when Cyclones defenseman Zach Berzolla picked up a loose puck behind his net and tried to dump it the other way but former Cyclone Luc Brown intercepted the attempt and moved out from behind the net to make a cross-crease pass to Seamus Malone who put it behind a diving Beck Warm. With the goal, Malone picked up his team-leading 13th of the season. Brown picked up his sixth assist, while Chase Lang was credited with the second assist, his ninth on the year.
The teams would play some four-on-four after Spencer Watson of Indy and Sean Allen of Cincinnati would both get minor penalties for roughing at 7:28 of the second period.
The Cyclones would take advantage of the open ice.
Fuel goaltender Zach Driscoll would overcommit on a pass to Jalen Smereck at the top of the right faceoff circle. Smereck slapped a pass over to Louie Caporusso at the bottom of the left faceoff dot. Caporusso quickly got off a shot past a diving Driscoll as he was trying to recover. It was the team-leading 14th goal of the season for Caporusso, tying the game at 1-1. Zack Andrusiak (18) and Smereck (13) were credited with the assists.
Indy’s Kirill Chaika put Cincinnati on an extended power play with a five-minute major boarding penalty at 10:12 of the period. The Cyclones would capitalize again with their second power play goal of the game when Arvin Atwal let loose a one-timer from just inside the blue line to give the Cyclones the lead at 2-1. It was only the second goal of the season for the ECHL penalty-minute (127 PIM) leader. Patrick Polino picked up his 15th assist, while All-Star Lincoln Griffin was given credit for his 13th.
The score remained 2-1 until 17:26 of the third period.
The Cyclones won the faceoff to the right of Driscoll, a pressured Smereck would float the puck towards the net that captain Justin Vaive re-directed past Driscoll for his 14th goal of the year. Smereck picked up his second assist of the game, and Caporusso was credited with the faceoff win and second assist.
The Indy Fuel would be shorthanded for a total of 27-minutes, as the Cyclones were 2-for-7 on the power play. The Indy Fuel went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Warm moves to 13-4-2-0 on the season as he stopped 24-of-25 shots he faced, while Driscoll stopped 17-of-20 and moves to 13-7-0-0.
The Cyclones now hit the road for back-to-back games, starting with a tilt against the Wheeling Nailers (17-15-1-0) Saturday night, then a match with the in-state rival Toledo Walleye (16-13-4-1) on Sunday.
The Fuel head back home to host the Kalamazoo Wings (14-15-3-0) on Saturday night before heading up I-69 to take on the Fort Wayne Komets (13-12-3-2) on Sunday afternoon.
Contact the writer: Jeffrey.Everroad@prohockeynews.com
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