Six different skaters scored and Sean Bonar protected the net in his Cyclones debut to help the 'Clones cruise past Indy by a 6-2 final Friday night inside Heritage Bank Center.
With consecutive wins, the Cyclones find themselves back in a playoff spot in the Central Division with an 11-9-0-0 record. Indy sees a three game point streak get snapped, as they fall to 6-10-2-1.
- Mitch Gillam was perfect through two previous meetings with the Cyclones, but was beat on the first shot he faced tonight. Jack Van Boekel collected a puck in the left circle to rifle one high over the shoulder of Gillam for a 1-0 advantage for the Cyclones 3:19 into the first.
- Cincinnati struck two more times in the first, with Yushiroh Hirano picking up his 4th goal of the week on a feed by Louie Caporusso. With less than three minutes in the frame, Lukas Craggs smacked home a power play goal when the Cyclones continued to distribute the puck all around the attacking zone, forcing Indy to bite on a play that allowed Craggs an uncontested net-front opportunity.
- Johnny Coughlin scored the lone second period goal when a delayed penalty against Indy gave the 'Clones a 6-on-5 situation. Coughlin shifted from defense to offense, creeping down toward Gillam where he found a loose puck to push through, making it 4-0 Cyclones.
- Dajon Mingo put the game on ice with the team's second man advantage goal of the night, drilling a left circle one-timer to the back of the net. Indy's Brent Gates would answer 29 seconds later, solving Bonar who had been perfect through 45 minutes.
- Kyle Thacker scored his first goal as a member of the Cyclones, and his first goal since scoring on the Cyclones while playing for the Iowa heartlander in November. The defender rocketed a wrist shot by Gillam after being fed across from Caporusso, who had a three assist night.
- Special teams helped keep the Cyclones ahead in this game. The team went 8-for-9 on a season high-9 penalty kills, with the lone goal against coming off Spencer Watson's stick with seven seconds left. Cincinnati was outshot 16-10 in the first, and 15-6 in the third period. The 'Clones were 2-for-8 on the power play.
- Bonar made 36 saves for his first win of the season and first as a Cyclone, while Gillam made 25 saves in the loss and is 2-4 on the year with the Fuel
"Our guys did a really good job winning those net front battles and that made my job a lot easier," said Bonar. "We did an amazing job tonight. Good pre-scout. Good execution. Good effort. Everything was great on the penalty kill. We had a great crowd in here, too. They were awesome tonight for sure."
The Cyclones now begin their longest road trip of the season, with the first of seven away games taking place in Wheeling against the Nailers Saturday night. The Cyclones will play a pair of games in the Nail City this weekend.
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