INDIANAPOLIS– The Indy Fuel hosted the Fort Wayne Komets for Opening Night on Friday in front of a sellout crowd of 6,370 fans. The Fuel ultimately fell 4-1 to their Central division rivals in the teams’ 99th all-time meeting.
1ST PERIOD
The first period of the season began with a long stretch of play without a whistle. Ultimately, the first goal was scored at 6:48 by Fort Wayne’s Morgan Adams-Moisan. They added to their lead with a goal about thirty seconds later via Matt Wedman.
In an uncharacteristic twist, there were no penalties between these cross-state rivals until Fort Wayne’s Jack Gorniak was called for high sticking at 17:03 of the first period.
The Fuel were not able to capitalize on that power play and time ticked down on the first frame as the Komets outshot the Fuel 11-5.
2ND PERIOD
The second period opened with a bit more fire from both teams as Indy’s Luc Brown took a holding penalty just one minute in. The Fuel were able to kill off the penalty.
At the 5:16 mark, Fort Wayne’s Shawn Szydlowski was ejected from the game and issued a five minute misconduct penalty for an ill-placed slash against Cam Hillis.
Jon Martin scored the Fuel’s first goal of the season on the power play with the help of Santino Centorame and Cam Hillis to make it 2-1.
At 18:52, Chase Lang took Indy’s second penalty of the game with a cross-checking call that would carry over into the third period.
3RD PERIOD
The Fuel were able to kill off that penalty and hold the Komets until 14:29 when Fort Wayne’s Nolan Volcan scored to make it 3-1.
With three minutes left in the period, the Fuel pulled Mitchell Weeks from the net in favor of the extra skater.
Fort Wayne’s Ture Linden scored the empty net goal to seal the deal for the Komets at 18:29 of the third. The game ended with a score of 4-1 in favor of Fort Wayne with the Komets outshooting the Fuel 37-18.
The Indy Fuel are back in action at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on October 28, 2023 for Pucks and Paws/Halloween Night against the Kalamazoo Wings. Tickets are available HERE.
Originally posted on indyfuelhockey.com