by Reggie Edwards
The Indy Fuel held off a late 3rd Period rally against Kansas City Tuesday night, taking down the Mavericks 4-2 at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The Fuel came into Tuesday night’s game against Kansas City winning five of their last eight games, sitting at 4th place in the Central Division- one game behind Fort Wayne for 3rd and only one game ahead of fifth-place Wheeling.
They opened the game with goals from Josh Shalla (11:40) and Brett Welychka (17:20), giving the Fuel a good pad to play off of going into the 2nd Period. Indy played like a team pushing for a high playoff spot and, coming off of a tough loss on the road to Fort Wayne last weekend, the Fuel have consistently played well the game following a loss, which was the case on Tuesday at home.
The 2nd Period saw the Fuel playing on the defensive, mainly trying to control the ice and limit the Mavericks’ offense and that’s exactly what they did, too. Things started to get even more physical and Kansas City started to get frustrated throughout the Period as well, setting the stage for an intense and dramatic final period of play.
The 3rd saw Kansas City threatening late in the game but it wasn’t enough, as the Fuel’s 31 shots, combined with Tomkins’ 36 saves was more than enough for the home team to take the victory, moving into a tie for 3rd place with Fort Wayne, the Fuel welcome back to town on Friday night for a classic showdown.
Leading the Fuel charge in the final period of play were Quentin Shore and Matthew Thompson, joining Shall and Welychka along with assists from Radovan Bondra- who had 3 of them as well as Shalla, who continues to be a key part of the Fuel’s season this year.
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