Fuel cruise to home victory over Kansas City

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indy Fuel (19-16-0-0) built an early lead and never looked back as they took down the Kansas City Mavericks (18-14-1-1) 4-2 Tuesday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Radovan Bondra tallied a trio of assists, while Quentin Shore (1g, 2a) and Josh Shalla (1g, 1a) also turned in multi-point efforts to help the Fuel improve to 14-6 on home ice this season.

Indy scored twice in the first period and twice in the third to build a commanding 4-0 lead, before the Mavericks spoiled Fuel goaltender Matt Tomkins' shutout bid with two tallies in the last three minutes of regulation. Tomkins was stellar again for Indy, turning aside 36 shots - including 16 in the third period - to pick up his ECHL-leading 15th win of the season.

Able to generate offensive momentum on a pair of early power plays, the Fuel took a 1-0 lead at 11:40 of the first period when Josh Shalla picked up his 13th goal of the season. Moments after Indy's second man advantage came to an end, Shalla took a cross-ice feed from Bondra and launched a wrist shot over the blocker of Kansas City netminder Ben Halford (27 saves).

Brett Welychka doubled the Fuel lead with a shorthanded strike at 17:20 of the opening frame. Bondra once again started the play, causing a turnover on the Indy defensive blue line before springing Welychka on a breakaway from center ice. The Fuel rookie froze Halford with a fake shot and slipped a backhand into the net to register his seventh marker of the season, stretching a goal-scoring streak to three games.

Following a scoreless second period, Indy tacked on two quick goals in the middle stages of the third period to put the game away. Shore stretched the hometown lead to 3-0 at 9:51, capping off a 3-on-1 rush with Bondra and Shalla with a wrist shot from the slot. Just under a minute and a half later, Shore picked up another point with an assist on Mathew Thompson's eighth goal of the season, which came on the power play.

Tomkins made several impressive stops during the third period to keep the Mavericks off the scoreboard, but Kansas City finally broke through at 17:41 when Rocco Carzo one-touched a pass from David Dziurzynski off of the right goal post. The visitors made it 4-2 with 11 seconds remaining in regulation, when Zach Fisher tapped in a loose puck during a net-mouth scrum.

The Fuel logged another strong outing on special teams, picking up both a power play and a shorthanded goal. Indy finished 1-for-5 with the extra skater, while killing off seven of eight Kansas City opportunities.

Playing their eighth game in 13 days on Tuesday, the Fuel will enjoy a couple days of rest before starting another 3-in-3 weekend back at home with a Friday night showdown against the Fort Wayne Komets. Following the Hoosier State rivalry game, Indy heads to Wheeling for a pair of key contests with the Nailers at WesBanco Arena.

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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