INDIANAPOLIS - The Indy Fuel battled to the bitter end Saturday night before the second largest crowd in club history, 6,542, on Blackhawks Night at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in a 4-2 setback against first place Toledo.
With the Fuel's second consecutive sellout crowd looking on, Indy fell behind in the first minute of the first period when Patrick McCarron made connection to stake the Walleye to an early 1-0 lead which they never relinquished.
Trailing 2-0 late in the middle stanza, the Fuel continued to pour on the pressure, resulting in Josh Shalla's 10th goal of the season and his third on the power play at the 19:43 mark. The Shalla strike sliced the deficit in half to 2-1 entering the final frame of the game.
In the third period, the Fuel sustained their all-out attack in a bid to achieve the equalizer. However, Toledo All-Star goaltender Pat Nagle was spectacular, rebuffing every Indy salvo. Falling behind 3-1 in the 16th minute of the third, the Fuel remained relentless as Robin Press fired his 5th goal and his third on the power play, a mere 1:04 later, to, once again, narrow the deficit to a scant singleton at 3-2.
Toledo would cement their 5th victory in as many meetings this season against the Fuel on a Kyle Bonis empty net goal at 19:19.
The Fuel rained a season-high 19-shots on Nagle in the final period and 46-shots for the game, their second most shots on goal in a single game thus far this season.
The Fuel power play came out of an 0-14 drought by delivering on each of its last 2-advantages while the Walleye were 0-4 with their extra man.
Fuel goaltender Greg Dodds absorbed his first loss in his second start, facing 36-Toledo attempts.
At 43(19-21-3)41-points, the Fuel remain in 6th place in the Western Conference Central Division standings, 9-points back of 4th place Cincinnati and Kalamazoo and 10-points back of third place Kansas City.
Indy will play its next 7-games on the road, beginning next Friday night, February 9th when they clash with the Mallards in Quad City at 8:00 with the broadcast on WFNI-AM 1070thefan at 7:30 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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