Fuel Defeat Gladiators 4-3 Saturday

Coming off an exciting overtime win the night prior in Cincinnati, OH, Atlanta made their first appearance in Indianapolis, IN against the Indy Fuel for the first time since January of 2015. The Gladiators were in search of a second consecutive road victory and their first ever win at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

The home side took advantage of a fortuitous bounce and earned the game's first goal 5:17 into the opening period. Indy forward, Evan Mosey, collected a loose puck in the neutral zone after it took a strange hop over the stick of Tyler Shiplo. Mosey moved in on a breakaway and beat Atlanta goalie, Steve Racine, on a backhand shot.

Mosey notched his second goal of the night, 7:01 into the first period. The undrafted Fuel forward got open in front of the Atlanta net and knocked in a back door pass from Alex Wideman. John Carlsson was also credited with an assist on Mosey's third goal of the season.

Indy added a third marker of the first frame with a power play tally. Kevin Lynch sent a saucer pass out to the point where Matt Stanisz one-timed the puck toward the net. With heavy traffic in front of Racine, the puck eluded the rookie netminder between his legs and gave the Fuel a 3-0 lead.

Atlanta earned their first notch of the night with the lone score of period two. Thomas Frazee took a wrist shot from the hashmarks on the left wing side that beat Fuel goalie, Jake Hildebrand, above his blocker. Jake Bolton and Miles Koules were given the helpers on the eighth goal of the season from Frazee.

Eric Neiley moved into the tie for the team lead in goals with Derek Nesbitt when he gained his 10th mark of the season, 16:52 into the third period. Brock Higgs and Justin Buzzeo obtained position of the puck behind the Fuel net with a hard forecheck. Higgs placed a pass out front where Neiley chipped the puck over the left leg of the Fuel's rookie netminder and brought the Gladiators to within a goal.

Only nine seconds later, the Fuel managed to go back up by two goals. Off the center ice face-off, Brady Ramsay chipped the puck forward behind the Atlanta defense. The speedy Drew Schiestel beat everyone to the puck and threw a cross-ice pass to Wideman who scored on Racine over his glove to gave Indy the two goal lead back.

Blake Kessel potted home his sixth goal of the season and made the score 4-3 with just under two minutes remaining in the game. Higgs earned his ninth multi-assist night of the year as he found Kessel standing alone at the back post where the veteran defenseman slid the puck into the net to extend his point streak to six games. Drew Baker registered the secondary helper on the late tally that made it a one-goal hockey game.

Atlanta pressured the front of the Fuel net in the final minute only to see the time run out before they could even the score. In the 4-3 loss on the road, the Gladiators fell to 8-8-1-1 on the year and remained at 18 points and in second place in the South Division. With their fourth straight victory, Indy improved to 6-6-1-0 and 13 points in the standings