Fuel continue homestand Friday against Cincinnati

FANIMATION GAME PREVIEW: FUEL VS. CYCLONES

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 - 7:35 P.M.

INDIANA FARMERS COLISEUM, INDIANAPOLIS

TICKETS: TICKETMASTER, INDIANA FARMERS COLISEUM BOX OFFICE

BROADCAST INFO: INDYFUELHOCKEY.COM, ECHL.TV

THE MATCHUP: The Indy Fuel (1-1-0-0) continue their season-opening homestand Friday when they welcome the Cincinnati Cyclones (1-0-0-0) to Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The first leg of a 12-game season series between the Central Division rivals, Friday marks the first of eight visits Cincinnati will make to Indianapolis.

LAST TIME OUT: The Fuel enter Week 2 of the ECHL season after splitting the first half of their four-game homestand to begin the 2018-19 schedule. Indy dropped a tight 3-1 contest to the Fort Wayne Komets on Opening Night last Friday, before recording its first win of the campaign the following night in an 8-4 triumph over the Kalamazoo Wings.

Trailing 3-1 early in the second period, the Fuel used a five-goal middle frame to take control of the rematch of the 2017-18 regular season finale at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Eleven different Indy skaters found the scoresheet, as the home team tallied three times on the power play and twice shorthanded to secure victory number one for the season.

Doing Twin Things: Leading the offensive deluge for the Fuel on Saturday night against Kalamazoo were twin brothers Ryan and Matt Rupert, who both marked three-point nights in the win. Ryan picked up two goals in a span of 3:45 in the second period - the first on a shorthanded breakaway, and the second on the power play - before tacking on another power play point in the third with an assist. Matt took the role of the playmaker, dishing out three assists, the first coming on his brother's shorthanded tally and the latter two with the man advantage.

Mr. 500: Olivier Labelle's second goal on Saturday night was a pretty special one. With his third-period power play goal, the veteran forward recorded the 500th point of his 13-year professional career. Since his rookie season with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch in 2006-07, Labelle has accumulated 243 goals and 257 assists in 688 career contests in the AHL, ECHL, EBEL (Austria) and in France. The native of St-Eustache, Quebec is now only nine points shy of reaching the 350-point plateau in his ECHL career, where he has tallied 172 goals and 169 assists.

Border Battle: Friday marks the start of a new chapter in the budding rivalry between Indy and Cincinnati. The Fuel had the number of their rival from down I-74 last year, finishing with a 7-3-0-0 record in 10 games against the Cyclones, winning five of six at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Indy holds a slight edge in the all-time series between the two clubs, entering the 2018-19 campaign with a 22-19-1-0 mark against Cincinnati, with a 15-7-1-0 record in Indianapolis.