Fuel Fall to Wheeling in Late Thriller

INDIANAPOLIS - Coming off of a four-game road trip in the south, the Indy Fuel (6-9-0-0) hosted the Wheeling Nailers (8-5-2-0) for the first time this season. Opening the scoring with back-to-back goals, Wheeling took a two-goal lead into the locker room after the first period. The Fuel responded with two goals of their own in the second period but wasn't able to hold on in the third period, falling to the Nailers 3-2.

Indy opened the game, controlling the majority of the play, outshooting the Nailers 8-2 through the first half of the first period. Wheeling took the 1-0 lead late in the first period when a pass from Alex Brooks was deflected and landed on the stick of Alec Butcher who beat Fuel goaltender Charles Williams (29 SVS) over the shoulder. The Nailers quickly took a 2-0 lead off of breakaway pass to Spencer Trapp, who tucked the puck through the five hole of Williams.

Continuing the offensive trend in the second period, Indy was handed an early power play and after bombarding the Wheeling net, Alex D'Orio (41 SVS) held on to the 2-0 Wheeling lead. The lead was quickly cut in half when Spencer Watson collected the puck on an odd-man rush, beating D'Orio with a cross-crease pass to Dylan McLaughlin. Six minutes later on another offensive rush, Sam Kurker fired a shot from the faceoff dot and beat D'Orio on the glove side, tying the game 2-2 and sending both teams into the locker room at a standstill.

Opening the third period, both teams traded chances as well as penalties. Around the eight-minute mark, both teams received roughing penalties, forcing them to play 4-on-4 for two minutes but neither team was able to capitalize on the open ice. Earning a late penalty for high sticking, Indy had to kill a penalty off with three minutes remaining. Immediately after killing off the penalty, Blake Seibenaler snuck into the slot and beat a screnned Charles Williams to give Wheeling the 3-2 lead and the eventual win.

Single-Game tickets are now available for the entire 2019-20 Fuel season at 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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