INDIANAPOLIS– The Fuel hosted the Atlanta Gladiators for the second night in a row. After claiming a 5-1 victory on Thursday night, the Fuel won a back and forth battle with the Gladiators on Friday and came away with a 6-4 win.
1ST PERIOD
Robert Calisti took a tripping penalty at 2:47, to give the Fuel an early power play in the first frame however the Gladiators killed it off. The Fuel took an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Colin Bilek though, with a goal at 5:28 assisted by Matus Spodniak and Bryan Lemos.
Atlanta scored about ten minutes later with a goal from Griffin Luce so the first period ended with a score of 1-1 with the Gladiators outshooting Indy 13-9.
2ND PERIOD
39 seconds into the frame, Kyle Maksimovich scored to put the Fuel up 2-1. Cam Hillis and Santino Centorame both claimed assists on that goal.
Less than three minutes later, Carson Gicewicz scored for Atlanta unassisted to tie the game again. Hillis scored less than two minutes after that with the help of Bilek and Matt Cairns to give the Fuel the lead again.
Brendan Hoffmann scored for the Gladiators at 6:09, less than a minute after Hillis’ goal, to tie the game yet again, 3-3.
Cam Bakker scored his first goal of the season with a slapshot in front to give Indy a 4-3 lead. Brett Bulmer and Zach Jordan both had assists on that goal.
After that, Cairns took near back-to-back penalties for high sticking and interference but the Fuel killed off both.
At 14:07, Jacob Graves took a slashing penalty, giving Indy a power play opportunity but the Gladiators killed it off. Maksimovich took a high sticking penalty at 17:13 to put the Fuel back on the penalty kill however they killed it off before time expired on the second frame.
3RD PERIOD
At 1:49, Chris Cameron took a cross checking penalty. Thirty seconds later, Spodniak took a roughing penalty after lunging at someone on the Atlanta bench while Jackson Pierson took a cross checking penalty on him. At 3:35, Calisti took a holding call to add onto the series of penalties.
Hillis scored his second goal of the game with the help of Ross MacDougall to give Indy the first two-goal lead of the game, 5-3. Malone sat for interference shortly after but the Fuel survived the penalty kill.
After that penalty was killed off, Gicewicz took a roughing penalty and Indy’s Brett Bulmer quickly capitalized with a goal to put Indy up 6-3. Maksimovich and MacDougall each earned their second point of the game with assists.
Nick Mutter took a boarding penalty at 13:23, putting the Fuel back on the power play but less than a minute later, Zach Jordan took a hooking call.
At 17:51, Reece Vitelli scored to make it 6-4 but the Gladiators did not have enough time to mount a comeback and ultimately fell to the Fuel for the second night in a row.
Originally posted on indyfuelhockey.com