Indy Fuel vs Toledo Walleye Recap

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The Indy Fuel returned home last night to play the Toledo Walleye after a three-game road trip in Utah, where they lost two of three games. The last time the Fuel were home was 10 November with a win over the Cincinnati Cyclones. The Fuel snapped the Walleye’s 10-game winning streak last night and are 2-0 against Toledo this season.

First Period

The Fuel started slow, though the Walleye were whistled for too many men on the ice about five minutes into the period. The Fuel’s first shot of the game opened the scoring for the home team. Neil Manning fired a shot past Walleye netminder Pat Nagle at 9:21 of the first period. That was Manning’s third goal of the season. After that, the Fuel were off and running. Just over six minutes later, Connor Moynihan found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season. That gave Indy a 2-0 lead headed into the second period.

Second Period

The action got started early, as Toledo’s Trevor Yates put a tricky shot behind Fuel goalie Matt Tomkins to cut the Indy lead in half. About halfway through the period is when things started to get interesting. The Fuel’s Miles Liberati got called for hooking, then Toledo’s bench was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. This resulted in 4-on-4 hockey for two minutes. That was when Josh Shalla broke out on an odd-man rush and scored his seventh goal of the season. This gave Indy its two-goal lead back. Towards the end of the period, Toledo’s Samuel Thibault was called for tripping and then had two minutes tacked onto his penalty for leaving the penalty bench. This turned into a four-minute Fuel power play, which was unsuccessful on its four opportunities last night. The Fuel would take a 3-1 lead into the third period.

Third Period

The Walleye put pressure on Tomkins and the Fuel early and often in the third. Jordan Topping scored his second goal of the season at 5:23 of the period and cut the Fuel’s lead back down to one goal. Toledo would get two power play opportunities later in the period, but could not solve Tomkins for a third time.

Matt Tomkins stood tall for Indy last night as he helped the Fuel to the 3-2 victory over the Walleye. That snapped Toledo’s 10-game winning streak and 11 game point streak. The Fuel will be back in action on Friday, 23 November as they host the Cincinnati Cyclones. Puck drop is at 7:35 pm.