LAST TIME OUT: In their first homestand of the season, the Indy Fuel hosted Cincinnati and in a dominant effort, defeated the Cyclones 3-0. Charles Williams earned his first shutout of the season stopping 22 shots and winning his second game of the season. Indy began the game being out-shot 10-5 in the first period but proceeded to out-shoot the Cyclones 24-12 in the second and third period with goals from Michael Doherty, Ben Youds and Nathan Noel.
THE MATCHUP: The Indy Fuel (3-2-0-0) takes on Cincinnati (1-1-1-0) in the second half of a back-to-back at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. After dropping two straight games to the Wheeling Nailers last weekend, Indy beat Cincinnati 3-0 on Friday and will look to make it two straight wins on Saturday night at the Coliseum. Cincinnati sits in last in the Central Division with three points while Indy is looking to stay at the top of the Central with Fort Wayne and Wheeling with a win on Saturday.
FIRST TIMERS: The Fuel had three players score their first goals of the season on Friday night, both Michael Doherty and Ben Youds also scoring their first goals in a Fuel uniform. Nathan Noel ended Saturday night with a goal and assist helping on the game-winning goal by Michael Doherty. Ben Youds currently has 1.33 points per game since joining the team on October 15th. In three games with the Fuel, Youds has a goal and three assists.
SPECIAL TEAMS MATCHUP: Special teams is the name of the game on Saturday with Indy sitting in first in the league in power play, scoring on 36.8 percent of their power plays. Cincinnati currently resides in last place in the league, capitalizing on 6.7 of their power play chances. Indy's power play was given three chances on Friday night, capitalizing on their second chance of the game with a one-timed shot from Ben Youds. The Fuel also held off all three Cincinnati power play chances on Friday, putting themselves in 6th place in the league in penalty killing.
LOOKING AHEAD: After winning the first half of the matchup, Indy will look to go two-for-two on the weekend against Cincinnati on Saturday. The Fuel will travel to Fort Wayne for the first time this season on November 2 before returning home to face Central Division opponents Toledo Walleye and Cincinnati Cyclones on November 8 and November 9. Indy will end the three-game homestand with a matchup against the Kansas City Mavericks on November 13.