FUEL WIN 4-2 OVER GRIZZLIES IN FIRST OF THREE GAMES

WEST VALLEY CITY- The Fuel traveled to West Valley City, Utah for their first game against the Grizzlies in six years. They defeated the Grizzlies 4-2, showing off their scoring depth in full force, with a season-high of 42 penalty minutes.

1ST PERIOD

Chris Cameron took an interference penalty at 0:45 to start the game. However, the Fuel did not let Utah gain momentum to score and they successfully killed the penalty with no shots allowed. 

Cam Hausinger scored at 12:51 with assists by Brandon Saigeon and Darby Llewellyn. With his third goal of the season, Hausinger was quick to put the Fuel on the board in the first. This was the Fuel’s third goal scored in the first period of a game.

The Fuel took one more penalty in the first with a tripping minor on Kevin Lombardi at 14:39. The period ended with the Fuel outshooting the Grizzlies 11-2.  

2ND PERIOD

The second period was busy for Nathan Burke, who scored against his former team at 3:26. Bryan Lemos and Andrew Bellant collected assists on that goal. This put Burke on a two-game goal streak.

Utah’s Gianni Fairbrother put them on the board at 8:13 with a goal assisted by Hartje and Lebster. However, it did not take long for the Burke revenge game to continue. 

Utah’s Kabore Dunn headed to the box for a holding minor at 8:56. The Grizzlies killed off the penalty but the Fuel’s momentum was already full steam ahead.

Burke struck again at 15:30 to extend the lead to 3-1, Lemos and Cameron collected assists on that goal. 

At 17:12, Fairbrother and Cam Hausinger dropped the gloves and took five minutes for fighting each. However, Fairbrother took off his jersey pads, which earned him an additional two minutes, so the Fuel headed to the power play.

Colin Bilek wasted no time extending the lead to 4-1 with a power play goal. Lemos collected his third assist of the night while Burke earned his third point. 

That ended the busy second period, with Indy outshooting the Grizzlies 23-13.

3RD PERIOD

It was another strong period start for the Fuel, but it wasn’t long before someone headed to the box. Bellant took a tripping penalty at 1:59 but the Fuel killed off that penalty. 

Utah's Kade Jensen headed to the box on an interference penalty at 4:49 and the temperature got hotter.

After a teammate was checked, Hausinger fought back and again ramped things up in the third period with gloves off. He headed to the locker room with a two-minute instigating penalty, a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute game misconduct at 5:46. 

Along with his previous penalties in the game, Hausinger set a new franchise record for most penalty minutes by one player in a single game. His 32 minutes topped the previous record set last season by Andrew Perrott who recorded 28 penalty minutes in a win over Norfolk.

Utah's Kyle Pow also got a five-minute fighting and two-minute cross-checking penalty so the Grizzlies headed to the power play but did not find the back of the net.

With the penalties evening out, the Fuel continued on the power play. Tensions were high the rest of the game as Burke took a slashing penalty at 9:38 and the Fuel killed it off. 

Utah’s Tyson Upper scored his first professional goal late in the third at 15:27, Armstrong and Jenson got assists on the goal. 

With less than two minutes to go in the third, Utah pulled their goalie, Adam Scheel, in favor of the extra attacker. Shots went wide, and icing was called, but the Fuel did not score on the empty netter. 

DJ King took a cross-checking penalty at 19:36 but Utah could not get past Gaudreau for a late redemption goal.

In the end, the Fuel outscored and outshot the Grizzlies, 4-2 and 32-24 respectfully. Indy faces Utah again on Friday and Saturday before heading home. 

ABOUT THE INDY FUEL:

The Indy Fuel are the proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks and the American Hockey League’s Rockford IceHogs. The Fuel will host their first home game of the 2024-25 season on December 6, 2024 against the Iowa Heartlanders. Information and tickets can be found HERE. 

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--INDYFUELHOCKEY.COM--