Kansas City rallies for 6-3 win over Fuel

(By Terry Ficorelli)

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indy Fuel sustained their second straight home setback on Thanksgiving weekend when they fell to their divisional rivals, the Kansas City Mavericks, 6-3, Saturday night at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

Kansas City surmounted three Fuel one-goal advantages of 1-0 and 2-1 in the opening period as well as 3-2 past the midway point of the second stanza to record their 7th victory in the last 8-starts and, remarkably, their 10th consecutive triumph over Indy in the span of the last 2-years.

Mike Neal (4) FG and Reed Seckel (2) struck with first period thrusts for the Fuel before Ryan Rupert, reinstated after serving a 4-games' suspension, connected on an electrifying shorthanded strike at 10:51 of the middle frame to produce his club's third lead of the contest at 3-2. However, the last Indy lead was only temporary as the Mavericks responded with their third game-tying goal 1:15 later at the 12:06 mark when Shaun Pauly equalized matters for the visitors. The Pauly goal was followed 2:55 later by a Jordan Kwas strike which catapulted the victors into their first lead of the night and a lead they never relinquished at 4-3.

Kansas City added two more third period goals with Jared VanWormer capping an enormous performance with his second PPG and third point of the night to cement the victory.

The Fuel were outshot by the Mavs, 38-33 overall and 30-19 over the latter two periods. The Indy power play was 0-2 while the KC man advantage unit went 2-3. Fuel goaltender Collin Delia incurred the loss, lowering his record to 10(1-7-2) while his counterpart, the Mavs Tyler Parsons earned his 8th victory of the season.

The Fuel are 5(2-3-0) through the first 5-games of their 6-game home stand and 10(2-6-2) in their last 10-starts overall. For the season, Indy is now 8(1-5-2) against its own Central Division and 8(3-5-0) through 8-dates on home ice. The Fuel complete their 10-games November schedule with a record of 10(2-6-2).

Next action for the Indy club will be next Friday night, December 1st when they conclude the 6-game home stand, hosting division rival Quad City in a 7:35 pm face-off. The brief two games' work week will wrap-up next Saturday night on the road at Toledo where the Fuel will be hosted by the first place Walleye at 7:15 pm.

Single-Game tickets are now available for the entire 2017-18 Fuel season at Indiana Farmers Coliseum! Fans can also take advantage of a wide variety of Ticket Plans by calling 317-925-FUEL or visiting IndyFuelHockey.com. Don't miss a second of the action during the 2017-18 season - follow the Fuel on Twitter and Instagram (@IndyFuel) and ‘Like' the Fuel on Facebook.

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