INDIANAPOLIS– The Fuel finished their weekend in Kalamazoo with a Sunday afternoon matchup against the K-Wings. In their fifth meeting so far this season, the Fuel came away with a 4-2 victory.
1ST PERIOD
Jon Martin got on the game sheet first as a big boarding call landed him in the penalty box for two minutes at 7:06 in the first frame. This caused some feistiness between the two teams that have met four times already this season.
The K-Wings killed off that penalty and then took one of their own, a holding call on Brandon Saigeon. They followed that up with a delay of game penalty to the Kalamazoo captain Chaz Reddekopp at 15:38.
The Fuel captain Seamus Malone immediately retaliated with a goal to put the Fuel up 1-0 late in the first period. Bryan Lemos and Cam Hillis claimed assists on that power play goal.
Despite getting outshot 9-5, the Fuel led by one goal after one.
2ND PERIOD
In what was Kalamazoo’s teddy bear toss game, Justin Taylor scored to make it 1-1 at 2:46 of the second period and the bears flew. After a few minutes for cleanup, the game was back on.
At 7:30, Jon Martin broke the tie with the help of his younger brother Jordan to make it 2-1 in favor of Indy.
Former K-Wing Darby Llewellyn took a roughing penalty at 9:23 after a scuffle in front of Indy’s net. That penalty was killed off before Jordan Martin netted his first goal of the season with the help of Victor Hadfield and Matus Spodniak at 15:03 to make it 3-1.
DJ King was next to take a penalty in his first game back with the Fuel. He sat for cross-checking for two minutes at 15:53. Ty Glover found the back of the net on the K-Wings’ power play to make it 3-2 at 17:12.
Josh Passolt took a roughing penalty at 18:14, giving the Fuel a power play to end the period on.
3RD PERIOD
At 6:07, Colin Bilek extended the Fuel’s lead to 4-2 with his third goal in three games back from injury. Lemos claimed his second assist of the game on that goal along with Trevor Zins.
The third period did not see much more excitement as both teams had near-equal possession time and shots but no goals as time ticked down.
With under two minutes to go, Kalamazoo pulled Hunter Vorva from the net in favor of the extra skater but could not score. Ultimately, Kalamazoo outshot Indy 27-26 but the Fuel pulled away with the 4-2 win.
The Indy Fuel are back in action at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on November 29, 2023 for Wednesday Night Hockey against the Wheeling Nailers.
Originally posted on indyfuelhockey.com