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ECHL Indy Fuel

Indy Spoils Cincinnati Sellout with Shootout Victory

February 27, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Indy Fuel News Release


CINCINNATI - The largest crowd ever gathered for hockey in Cincinnati was treated with a fantastic game, but left without celebrating a hometown victory. In the end, the Indy Fuel (27-27-2-0) stole the spotlight, earning a 3-2 shootout win over the Cincinnati Cyclones (29-20-3-3) Saturday night in front of 16,529 at U.S. Bank Arena.

The first-ever sellout crowd for a Cyclones game at U.S. Bank Arena certainly got their money's worth. The Fuel and Cyclones battled through 65 minutes of play without finding a winner, before Indy picked up the second point in the skills competition to end Cincinnati's seven-game home winning streak. Daniel Ciampini scored the only goal in the shootout, and goaltender Keegan Asmundson was flawless for the Fuel, who won their second shootout in three games, improving to 4-0 in 2015-16 in games extending past overtime.

Indy takes a 4-2 lead in the season series against the Cyclones with five games left to play, pulling within eight points of Cincinnati in the Midwest Division standings. With 56 points, the Fuel are two back from the eighth-place Colorado Eagles and the last playoff berth in the ECHL's Western Conference. Indy now heads to Toledo to finish a weekend road swing through Ohio against the Walleye at Huntington Center Sunday afternoon.

Ciampini ended the game's scoring in the shootout, and began it when he gave the Fuel a 1-0 lead 7:34 into the first period. The rookie blocked a Cincinnati defenseman's shot just inside the Indy blue line and raced 150 feet toward the Cincinnati net uncontested. Ciampini showed his backhand to freeze goaltender Andy Iles, then shifted to his forehand to deposit his ninth goal of the season.

Indy's lead doubled late in the second when Michael Colantone was the beneficiary of an Iles turnover behind the net. After corraling a dump-in behind his cage, Iles' outlet pass was cut off by Peter Schneider, who found a waiting Colantone in the slot. Colantone had an open net to shoot at for his seventh tally of the year at 15:56.

It only took 21 seconds for the Cyclones to cut Indy's lead to 2-1, when defenseman Colin Mulvey buried the first of his two goals on Saturday. Forward Zach Budish forced a turnover on the left wall on the forecheck, and found Mulvey on the face-off dot, who cranked a shot over Asmundson's blocker.

Asmundson had to be the Fuel's best player for much of the third period, but a strike of poor luck helped Cincinnati tie the game at 12:36 of the third period. With the Cyclones attacking on a 3-on-2 rush, the goaltender lost his balance, and Mulvey flipped a harmless shot into the back of the net for his 14th marker of the campaign.

The slip-up was one of the only blights on a great performance from Asmundson, who made his first start since Feb. 14 in Missouri. The netminder stopped 31 shots and three more in the shootout to pick up his first win in a Fuel uniform. In the other end, Andy Iles suffered the loss, turning aside 27 of 29 Indy shots and 2-of-3 in the shootout.

Neither team could score on the power play, with the Fuel going 0-for-3 and the Cyclones 0-for-1. Indy's third man advantage came with 30 seconds left in overtime.

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