Greenville, SC - The Indy Fuel (6-6-0-0) had a valiant push in the third period but couldn't catch the Swamp Rabbits (8-6-0-1) and fall 3-2 in Greenville Saturday night.
The Swamp Rabbits opened the scoring in the first period when Cliff Pu passed the puck from behind the net and Patrick Bojkov was waiting in the crease to tap it in at 13:23 in the first period.
Mathew Thompson notched his fourth goal of the year to get the Fuel on the board in the second period. With 26 seconds left to go on the power play Thompson drove the puck down the left boards and rocketed a shot from the bottom of the circle to go flying over Greenville goaltender Jeremy Helvig's shoulder to tie the game at one at 5:12.
Less than a minute later Pu and Bajkov combined for the second time of the night when Pu diverted the puck from the left side of the net to Bajkov who was waiting on the right side to glide it past Fuel netminder Chase Marchand. Nathan Perkovich scooped up a turnover in Indy's zone and buried the puck in the top shelf of the net with a minute remaining in the second.
With three minutes left in regulation time Dylan McLaughlin fired a shot from the left circle that was originally deflected by Helvig but Karl El-Mir squeezed in the rebound to give the Fuel life at 16:49. Indy continued the pressure for the rest of the period outshooting Greenville 18 to 5 in the third, but ended up falling to the Swamp Rabbits in a 3-2 score.
The Fuel finished 1-for-3 on the power play and finished 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Indy continues on their southern road trip to Atlanta to take on the Gladiators tomorrow at the Infinite Energy Center at 2:05 p.m.
Single-Game tickets are now available for the entire 2019-20 Fuel season at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum! Fans can also take advantage of a wide variety of Ticket Plans by calling 317-925-FUEL or visiting IndyFuelHockey.com. Don't miss a second of the action during the 2019-20 season - follow the Fuel on Twitter and Instagram (@IndyFuel) and ‘Like' the Fuel on Facebook.
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