CINCINNATI - Back to back goals from Josh Shalla and Woody Hudson were the only two goals for the Indy Fuel (26-26-2-1) as the Cincinnati Cyclones (39-9-4-3) dominated the game with explosive first and third periods to bring the final score to 8-2 on Friday night at the U.S. Bank Arena in Ohio.
Ben Johnson opened up the scoring for Cincinnati as he capitalized on a pass from Arvin Atwal who weaved himself through Fuel defensemen in Indy's zone and floated it to Johnson who was waiting alone at the top of the right circle to bury it in the net just about five minutes into the first.
Just two minutes later Vasili Glotov fired a shot from the right corner of the boards and a bad bounce in front of the net ricocheted past Fuel goaltender Matt Tomkins. Myles Powell found the rebound off of Jesse Schultz's shot and made the score 3-0 for the Cyclones after the first period.
The Fuel took advantage of their first power play of the night as Shalla darted a shot from the right circle that was able to squeeze past Cyclones goalie Micheal Houser to get Indy on the board at 4:58 in the second.
Picking up some momentum Ryan Rupert took a shot from the face-off that bounced off of Housers leg into the right circle where Hudson was able to lift the puck into the net off the the rebound to bring the score to its closest deficit of 3-2 at 5:08.
The Cyclones responded quickly though with Mitch Jones launching a shot from the deep right circle where Tomkins initially made the save but Pascal Aquin was waiting to tap in the rebound at 15:16 in the second.
Cincinnati dominated the third period with four power play goals from Brady Vail, Alex Wideman, Aquin and Johnson to bring the final score to 8-2.
The Fuel went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Cyclones went 4-for-7. Tomkins had 24 saves on 32 shots while Houser had 13 saves on 15 shots.
The Fuel return home to take on the Kalamazoo Wings tomorrow at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum at 7:35 p.m. Saturday night.
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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