FUEL CLINCH PLAYOFFS IN SHOOTOUT LOSS TO KALAMAZOO

FISHERS- The Fuel hosted the Kalamazoo Wings on Friday night. In front of their fifteenth sell out crowd of the season, the Fuel honored the fans for Fan Appreciation Night. After forcing overtime, the Fuel earned a point which clinched a playoff spot for them but ultimately fell 5-4 to the K-Wings in a shootout.

1ST PERIOD

Kalamazoo’s Drake Pilon opened the scoring with a goal at 6:29 to make it 1-0. 

He followed it up with a power play goal after Fuel captain Chris Cameron took a slashing penalty at 7:04. 

Quinn Preston took a slashing penalty at 10:18, putting the Fuel on the power play for the first time but the K-Wings killed it off. 

Kalamazoo’s Phil Beaulieu took another slashing penalty at 19:53 that would carry over into the second frame. 

After one period, Indy was outshooting Kalamazoo 14-10. 

2ND PERIOD

With three seconds left on that power play, Kevin Lombardi scored with the help of Colin Bilek and Bryan Lemos to make it 2-1. 

At 4:04, Ryan Naumovski scored to make it 3-1 in favor of the K-Wings. 

Darby Llewellyn took a slashing penalty at 14:32 to put the Fuel on the penalty kill once again. 

Nathan Burke scored his 21st goal of the season at 18:03 to make it 3-2. Lombardi and Adam McCormick claimed the assists on that goal. 

Time expired on the period soon after. The Fuel outshoot the K-Wings 14-9 in that frame. 

3RD PERIOD

Both teams battled hard through the third period and after two lengthy reviews, the pressure was on. 

Owen Robison scored his first professional goal to tie the game up 3-3 at 13:44. That goal was assisted by Lemos and Ty Farmer. 

Lucas Brenton and Kalamazoo’s Lee Lapid took offsetting roughing minor penalties with 2:14 to go in the third period after a scuffle in front of Indy’s goal.

The K-Wings pulled their goaltender to have the 5-on-4 advantage with two minutes to go but Lemos was able to steal the puck and score on the empty net to put the Fuel up 4-3. Cameron had the lone assist.

The K-Wings pulled Ty Young from net again and this time it paid off as Max Humitz scored at 19:19 to tie the game once more. 

Kalamazoo took a timeout after that and for the third time, pulled the goalie from his net after gaining possession. The Indy net was knocked off and play stopped again. 

The Fuel cleared the puck a few times before time expired and the game headed to overtime. While this effectively clinched the playoffs for the Fuel and eliminated the K-Wings from playoff contention, the game played on in overtime. 

OVERTIME

At 3:35, Zach Okabe was called for a high sticking double minor that gave the Fuel four minutes on the power play after almost a full minute on a delayed power play. 

The K-Wings killed it off though and the game continued. Time expired after just one shot for Kalamazoo and they headed to a shootout. 

Burke shot first for Indy and did not score, while Pilon did for Kalamazoo. After Hausinger also did not score, Okabe won the game for the K-Wings with their second shootout goal. 

Despite the loss, the Fuel did eliminate the K-Wings from playoff contention and claimed the fourth and final spot in the Central division playoff standings. 

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 are now playing at the new Fishers Event Center. Information and tickets can be found HERE. 

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--INDYFUELHOCKEY.COM--