Fuel Fight Back in 4-3 Loss to Wheeling
March 7, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Indy Fuel News Release
INDIANAPOLIS - In the fourth of four head-to-head meetings between the two teams this season, the Indy Fuel were defeated by the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum by a final score of 5-4. With the loss, Indy fell to 24-24-4-4 overall this season and with 56 points, remain alone in fifth place in the ECHL's North Division standings, one point shy of playoff position.
After a fight between Indy's Johnny McGuire and Wheeling's Chaz Johnson electrified the crowd off the opening faceoff, the Nailers grabbed control of Saturday's game with three first period scores, from Derek Army on the power-play at 5:39 and Jarrett Burton and Shawn Skelly at even strength at 13:39 and 13:55 respectively, to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the middle frame, the Nailers extended their advantage just 42 seconds into the period on Alex Boak's first of the season, but after a hard-fought second stanza, Garett Bembridge put the Fuel on the board at 17:38 thanks to even-strength feeds from Chris DeSousa and Nicklas Lindberg.
After a Patrick McGrath major penalty early in the third, the Fuel took advantage of a five-minute power-play and clawed within a goal at 4-3 thanks to a pair of extra-man markers, from Justin Holl at 3:42, assisted by Jamie Wise and Matt White, and Bembridge's second of the game at 4:32, from Lindberg and Pete Massar. Despite a furious rally down the stretch from Indy, the Nailers hung on for a one-goal win and ended the Fuel's five-game winning streak and six-game point streak.
Mac Carruth took the loss in net for the Fuel following a 22-save performance and Franky Palazzese earned the win for Wheeling thanks to 31 stops on 34 Indy pucks faced. Saturday's game featured 103 combined penalty minutes, including 52 for the Nailers, a new single-game season high for a Fuel opponent this year.
Next up for the Fuel, it's a Sunday matinee clash vs. the Kalamazoo Wings with the opening faceoff set for 3:00 pm at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Full coverage of Sunday's game begins with the "Jose Cuervo Pregame Show" at 2:45 pm over the air on CBS Sports 1430 WXNT-AM, online at www.cbssports1430.com and on smartphones everywhere via the free "TuneIn" Radio app with Fuel broadcaster Tony Brown providing the play-by-play.
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