The Cincinnati Cyclones fell 3-1 to the visiting Indy Fuel on Sunday evening at Heritage Bank Center, falling further back in the Central Division playoff race. Cincinnati is now six points back of the Fuel, who hold the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division, now at a 22-17-6-1 record.
The Cyclones fell to 21-21-3-0 behind a one-goal performance, the lone goal from Ryan Kirwan. Ken Appleby stopped 23 of 26 shots on goal.
Three different skaters scored for the Fuel: Brandon Schultz, Jesse Tucker, and Eric Martin. Mitchell Weeks stopped 15 of 16 shots on goal he faced to pick up his 10th win of the season, on what was a relatively easy night for him.
Game Recap
Schultz opened up the scoring for Indy a little over halfway into the opening frame, sniping one home after breaking out on a breakaway off a pass from Tucker.
Tucker later extended the Indy lead to 2-0 seven minutes into the middle frame on a disappointing defensive lapse from Cincinnati, picking up his second point of the night and ninth goal of the season.
Kirwan finally gave the home team some momentum a few minutes later, then trimming the deficit to 2-1 after finding a loose puck and putting it past Weeks.
About halfway through the third period, Martin extended the Indy lead back to two, who one-timed a dish from Tyler Paquette past Appleby.
In the final 20 minutes, the Cyclones managed to muster only one shot on goal, a completely unacceptable stat to see during this time of the season. Cincinnati lacked any cohesion offensively for a full 60 minutes, and it showed in their total shots on goal of four on net over the final 40 minutes.
It just seemed like the Cyclones had no energy to close this game out, and in a game with this much importance against a division rival, it is tough to see that. And yes, it was the final game of three nights in a row, but Indy was in the same spot, so there are no excuses there. That third‑period effort was just abysmal in all phases, especially for a team in a playoff race.
Cincinnati will have time to rest and is back in action on Wednesday night at home against the Kalamazoo Wings. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:35 PM EST.
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