Fuel win fourth straight at home in 2-1 triumph over Quad City

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indy Fuel claimed their 4th consecutive victory on home ice Thursday night at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum where they edged the Quad City Mallards, 2-1.

Center Mike Neal's team-high 8th goal of the campaign at the 7:19 mark of the second period proved to be the game winning goal for the Fuel as the strike lifted Indy into a 2-0 lead at the second intermission. Left wing Matt Rupert started the game's scoring with his 6th of the season at 9:10 of the opening stanza. His goal produced an early 1-0 lead which the Fuel never relinquished.

Neal's goal was his 7th in the last 8-games while Matt Rupert ran his personal goal-scoring streak to 3-games equaling twin brother, Ryan, for the longest goal-scoring streak thus far this season for the Fuel. Regarding Ryan Rupert, his assist on Matt's goal was his 9th point in the last 7-games; 7(3-6-9).

Rookie goaltender Etienne Marcoux continued his larcenous-like ways for the victors, repelling 37 of 38-Mallards' shots as the visitors outshot the Fuel, 38-35 and 12-6 in the third period when Quad City made a late push following a Chris Francis goal at the 12:08 juncture.

The victory for the Fuel swelled their win streak on home ice to 4-in a row, equaling their longest home win streak of last season. During that span, Indy has been stingy and stellar defensively, allowing only 5-GA for a GAA of a miserly 1.25. Dating back to last season, it was also Indy's 4th consecutive home win over the Mallards.

Overall, the Fuel are 4(3-1-0) in their last 4-starts, outscoring the opposition, 14-7 and 6(4-2-0) through their last half-dozen dates with a distinct advantage of 19-11 in the scoring department.

With the Thursday night win, the Fuel climb into 6th place in the Western Conference Central Division Standings, improving their record to 22(8-11-3) for 19-points; 2-points better than Quad City while creeping up to within 3-points of 5th place Kalamazoo.

Next up for the resurgent Indy club is a two-games home-and-home series against their principal archrivals, the Fort Wayne Komets. The Fuel will be in Fort Wayne Friday night with the game broadcast on 1070thefan.com at 7:30 pm. Indy will cap this busy slate of 4-games in 5-night and 6-games in 9-days Saturday night back on home ice in an encore presentation against the Komets at 7:35 pm at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

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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