Fuel Come Up Short in Third Period in Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA - The Indy Fuel (18-16-0-0) lost the second of the five games that will be played against the Fort Wayne Komets in January (18-14-0-1) at Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum in front of 7,441 people Saturday night. Fort Wayne's Justin Hodgman, Mason Baptista and Shawn Sydlowski combined for three goals in the first and second period.

Quentin Shore tallied his seventh goal of the season halfway through the second period off a rebound chance from Dimitry Ospiov who took the shot deep from the right circle. Shore tapped in the puck after bouncing after Fort Wayne goaltender Zachary Fucale's shoulder to tighten the closest lead the Fuel had at 3-2. Both goaltenders would prove to be solid with Fucale shutting the door on some chances and Matt Tomkins standing his ground to keep the final score 3-2.

Hodgman opened up the scoring for the game after receiving a pass from Taylor Crunk who was met by Osipov at center ice. Hodgman rocketed the puck from the left circle just out of reach of defensemen Robert Powers and over glove of Tomkins.

The Komets took the first lead of the night when Jake Kamrass battled it out with Osipov behind the Fuel net before wrapping it around to the crease where Baptista was waiting to capitalize on a shot at 13:23 in the first.

Not long after, Brett Welychka got the Fuel on the board while receiving a pass from Zach Miskovic swiftly rotated his stick to deflect the shot past Fucale at 16:25 in the first.

Sydlowski had a wrist shot from the right circle at 4:01 in the second to bring Fort Wayne's final goal total to three.

The Fuel continued to impress with their penalty kill skills holding Fort Wayne 0-for-5 on their power play but fell short on their own, coming up also 0-for-5.

Both goaltenders showed strong performances tonight with Fucale and Tomkins each having 25 saves. The Komets outshot the Fuel 28 to 27.

The Fuel return to home ice to battle the Kansas City Mavricks Tuesday night on January 8th for a 7:05 puck drop at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

Single-game tickets are now on sale for the Fuel's 5th anniversary season at Indiana Farmers Coliseum! Lock up your seat for every second of the action at Indiana Farmers Coliseum with a Fuel Ticket Plan - grab yours by heading to IndyFuelHockey.com or by calling the Fuel front office at 317-925-FUEL. Don't forget to follow the Fuel on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (IndyFuel) for news, updates, contests and much more throughout the 2018-19 season.

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