Fuel Stymied by Everblades Offense

INDIANAPOLIS - Hosting the Florida Everblades for the second time in franchise history, the Indy Fuel began three games in three days on Thursday night. Indy opened the scoring in the first period but Florida would respond with three goals of their own, taking home a 4-2 win in the only matchup between the two teams this season.

It took until late in the opening stanza for the scoring to start when Jay Dickman fired a wrist shot from the blueline which bounced loose to Connor McDonald. McDonald fired the rebound past Florida goaltender Ken Appleby, scoring his first professional goal and giving Indy the 1-0 lead.

Nine minutes into the second period the Everblades capitalized on an odd man rush when Justin Auger cut to the middle of the ice and beat Fuel goaltender Dan Bakala over the shoulder with a wrist shot. The Fuel would be handed two power play chances in the second twenty minutes but Appleby and the Florida defense would shut the door on both chances. Florida took the lead late in the period on the man advantage when a deflected shot landed on the stick of Blake Winiecki, who fired it past Bakala.

Outshooting the Fuel throughout the third period, the Everblades would earn a late power play as Jack Ramsey took a roughing penalty. A wrist shot by Derek Sheppard was deflected by Blake Winiecki for his second goal of the game, giving Florida a late 3-1 lead. Indy cut the Florida lead in half when a wrist shot by Bobby MacIntyre forced a rebound that landed on the stick of Derian Plouffe. Plouffe would pot the rebound and cut the lead to 3-2 with two minutes left in the period. Florida's Patrick McCarron would put home the empty netter with nine seconds remaining to put the game away for the Everblades.

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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