INDIANAPOLIS– The Fuel hosted the Fort Wayne Komets in their last home game before the new year and put on a show for a sellout crowd of 6,436 fans. In their fourth sellout in a row, Indy claimed a 5-2 win over their in-state rivals as both goaltenders put on a show with a rare goalie fight in the second period.
1ST PERIOD
The first period was relatively quiet with no goals and only a few penalties beginning with Anthony Petruzzelli at 11:17 sitting for boarding against his former team.
At 12:34, Xavier Cormier and Chris Cameron each took a roughing minor penalty followed by another set of offsetting penalties at 15:37 to Jack Dugan and DJ King for embellishment and tripping respectively.
Time expired on the period without a goal or another penalty, with Indy outshooting Fort Wayne 10-9.
2ND PERIOD
Cam Hillis opened the scoring in the second frame at 6:28 with the help of Kyle Maksimovich and Andrew Bellant to make it 1-0 Indy.
45 seconds later, Maksimovich scored a goal of his own with the help of Colin Bilek and Chris Cameron to make it 2-0 for the Fuel.
Just twenty seconds after that, Fort Wayne got on the board with a goal by Carl Berglund.
At 11:51, Maksimovich scored his second goal of the period and collected his third point. Colin Bilek and Santino Centorame each earned assists on that goal.
With just five seconds left in the second frame, the chippiness between these two rival teams hit an all-time high when Bellant was given a double minor for roughing, Martin Haš was given a minor roughing penalty, Jake Chiasson also got a minor roughing call, and both goaltenders left the crease to fight, earning them each a minor and major penalty for leaving the crease and fighting before time expired on the frame.
3RD PERIOD
Kale Howarth took a tripping penalty at 7:07 and ten seconds later, Ture Linden scored on the power play to make it 3-2.
At 13:01, Santino Centorame scored for the Fuel to put them back up by two. Maksimovich and Bilek each collected their fourth and third points on the night respectively.
Nine seconds later, Noah Ganske sat for high sticking giving the Fuel another power play opportunity which they capitalized on at 13:17 with a goal by Kale Howarth to make it 5-2. Bilek and Seamus Malone collected assists on that goal. With his fourth assist of the night, Bilek tied a franchise record of most assists in a game.
Haš took a roughing minor at 17:08 giving the Fuel yet another power play however the Komets killed that off before time expired on the game and Indy claimed the 5-2 victory in front of another sellout crowd.
The Indy Fuel are back in action at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 for Wednesday Night Hockey.
Originally posted on indyfuelhockey.com