At the other end, John Muse got the start for the Wheeling Nailers. Muse had started in two games for Wheeling, prior to Saturday. Coming into the Nailers’ home opener on Saturday, the 30-year-old had posted a 1-1-0 record with a 2.89 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage.

FUEL STARTING LINEUP

Matt Rupert-Ryan Rupert-Olivier Labelle

Alex Brooks-Neil Manning

Kevin Lankinen

The Fuel got out to yet another shaky start on Saturday. Wheeling got out to a 1-0 lead 16:48 into the opening frame on an unassisted tally by Troy Josephs.

About two minutes later, Zac Lynch ripped a shot over the shoulder of Lankinen as the Fuel found themselves in yet another first-period deficit.

On the ensuing faceoff after the Lynch goal, Anthony Collins and Brad Drobot had a much-anticipated heavyweight fight. This seemed to have spark Indy in the second period.

Fuel captain Zach Miskovic found himself in the box to start the middle frame as he was called for a slashing penalty at the end of the first.

This did not seem to faze the Fuel penalty kill. Connor Moynihan netted his second shorthanded goal of the season on a 2-on-1 rush with Mathew Thompson. This cut the Nailers’ lead in half early.

Kevin Dufour recorded his first of two goals in the game just 40 seconds after the Moynihan tally to tie the game up at two early in the second period. Josh Shalla tallied an assist on the goal which allowed him to continue a season-long point streak, which extends nine games.

A little over four minutes later, Dufour found the back of the net again for his third of the season on a feed from Brooks. This gave the Fuel a 3-2 lead, their first lead of the game.

The Fuel’s power play was the next unit to find the back of the net for Indy. Labelle was able to bury a cross-crease pass from Shalla for his team-leading fifth goal of the season to double the Fuel lead.

Next up on the goal queue was Shalla. Moynihan was able to feed him on the rush to extend the Fuel lead to 5-2.

This is the second time this season that the Fuel were able to net five goals in one period, which is the most goals in a period in the ECHL this season.

Josephs quickly responded to Shalla’s tally on the power play for Wheeling. This was his second goal of the game and it cut the Fuel lead to 5-3.

The chippiness picked up a bit more in the third period with scattered scuffles after whistles. The Fuel were still able to spoil the Nailers’ home opener with a 5-3 victory.

This was Wheeling’s first regulation home opener loss since 2010. They were 6-0-1 in their past seven home openers and 18-5-1 all-time in opening games at home.

By The Numbers

• 9 – The length of Shalla’s point streak. The 27-year-old has 14 points (4G, 10A) in nine games.
• 2 – The number of wins and games played for Lankinen. The netminder has played outstanding in his past two starts and the Finnish goaltender has a bright future.
• 5 – The number of goals Labelle has. The 13-year veteran took the team lead in goals on Saturday with a power-play goal. This turned out to be the game-winner.

The post RECAP: Fuel’s Second-Period Surge Leads to Impressive 5-3 Win appeared first on The Rink.

In those three games, the Fuel have averaged just over four goals per game. Despite averaging four goals per game, the Fuel are averaging only 24 shots per game.

“Even if you listen to the NHL guys, it’s not all about shots,” Indy Fuel Head Coach Bernie John said. “It’s about getting grade-A chances and we’re getting grade-A chances. Do we want more shots? Yes, we want more shots. We want to get pucks to the net, put pressure on goaltenders to make saves and on teams to defend but we like our chances when we get the right grade-A’s.”

It’s not just forwards that are scoring for the Fuel either. Rookie defenseman Robert Powers has four points in three games for Indy, which puts him tied for second in defenseman points and tied for third among rookie scorers in the ECHL. The offensive defenseman has found himself in on the rush while doing his job defensively to allow goaltender Matt Tomkins to play his game.

Tomkins has looked greatly improved since last season, most notably putting up a 39-save performance in their Friday night victory and earning the first star of the game. Tomkins wasn’t quite ready to take all the credit for his performance, though.

“Yeah, that was huge,” Tomkins said when asked about how his defense contributed to his performance. “Obviously, we were on our heels a little bit to start the game there but once we got rolling it was good.”

The first period has not been the Fuel’s friend to start the season. In their first three games, the club has been outscored 4-3 and outshot 32-22 in the opening frame.

“[It’s been] two games in a row where we’ve laid an egg a little bit in the first period and then we come back [in] the second and third and it’s more of an even game and it’s a little bit better,” John said.

The Fuel’s power play has been far from stellar as well, but their penalty kill has proved to be a key reason for their recent success. The power play has gone 3-for-15 (20.0%), with all three goals coming in their 8-4 rout over the Kalamazoo Wings. The penalty kill, on the other hand, has gone 17-for-19 (89.5), which is second behind many teams that have yet to allow a power-play goal.

The Fuel have even started to see an edge to their game that they haven’t seen in previous years. Big bodies, such as Anthony Collins, Connor Moynihan, and Dmitry Osipov were brought in to protect some of their young studs.

“We’ve got a couple of big boys, we got a lot of guys who like to stand up for the team, and that’s huge because it gives us other guys that are a little softer some extra space,” Fuel forward Josh Shalla said.

The Fuel take on the Toledo Walleye (1-1-0-0) Saturday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum for another Central Division matchup at 7:35 PM.

The post What’s Been Clicking: Indy Fuel Continue Hot Start to Season appeared first on The Rink.

The fans were treated to a scrimmage with the first full-ice five-on-five action of the week, a full period of four-on-four play, three-on-three overtime, and eventually a shootout. The scrimmage ended with the red team taking the win on shootout goals by Mackenzie Entwistle and free agent Princeton forward Ryan Kuffner (pictured above).

Don’t forget to listen to Thursday night’s Rinkcast to hear us talk more about what we saw.

Photo by Jeff Osborn/The-Rink

Below are some observations Eric Andrews and I made during today’s sessions:

• Alexandre Fortin wrapped up his week as the clear cut best forward on the ice, exuding confidence and polish throughout the session.
• As mentioned above, Ryan Kuffner had himself a nice scrimmage, scoring in the second period and then icing the win with one of the only two shootout goals.
• Tim Soderlund was not nearly as noticeable as he was last summer, but he flies with the puck and is fearless.  That said, the coaching staff had him playing right wing instead of center.  He looked to have really nice chemistry with Mathias From, who also had a very solid camp.
• Freddy Olofsson, Liam Coughlin and free agent Connor Moynihan had the best chances in the first period and it is no surprise that they were also three of the bigger players on the ice.
• Speaking of bigger players, Josiah Slavin certainly didn’t look like a late round draft pick this week.  He seemed to be everywhere.
• We saw a lot of Adam Boqvist, but he was much more interested in the offensive side of the rink than his own.  During a couple of plays, he insisted on making one too many fancy moves and turned the puck over both in his own zone and at the far blue line..  To anyone with delusions of this kid playing for the Blackhawks at 17/18 years old, just reel your hopes back in right now.  He did have a really nice assist on Olofsson’s goal in the second period.
• Henri Jokiharju spent a good deal of time on the ice and continued to get a nice push, especially on the power play.  The coaching staff was clearly comfortable with having him on the ice in all situations.
• Similarly, Chad Krys was out on the ice in the same situations.  His anticipation was very noticeable.
• Beau Starrett was one of the few centers to stand out.  His big frame and long strides allowed him to blow around defencemen on a couple of occasions.
• Niklas Nordgren did not skate because of a lower body injury, Jacob Nilsson took an early flight back to Sweden, and Blake Hillman just sat out.
• Jack Ramsey made his return to the ice and was awarded the camp trophy for his team’s win.
• Free agent Kyle Maksimovich had a goal and was around the puck all day.
• As far as the goalies go, Alexis Gravel and Mathew Robeson held the teams scoreless in the first period.  Wouter Peeters had much more favorable results in his period of play than he was the previous four days, but was still unimpressive overall.  Free agent from St. Francis Xavier University and USports Goaltender of the Year Chase Marchand (cousin of Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand) played the third period, the overtime and the shootout without allowing a single goal.

Check out over 120 photos from the week at the Rink’s Official Facebook page:

The post Blackhawks Prospect Camp: Day 5 appeared first on The Rink.

All to be taken with a grain of salt, of course.

As the years have gone on the chance of that next Alexandre Fortin or Collin Delia type player getting signed out of camp is rare, since the Blackhawks have gone to a more prospect intensive format rather than inviting and showcasing a large number of free agents.

Camp is split up into two groups, and the players are put though various on ice drills which eventually leads to the yearly Friday scrimmage.

There were a few observations Eric Andrews and I noticed after the first day:

• Adam Boqvist and Henri Jokiharju are clearly the belles of the ball and rightfully so. They are the most talented defensemen on the entire camp. That said, they are still young and not without flaws. The future is bright for these two kids.
• After Boqvist and Jokiharju, defenseman Ian Mitchell continues to impress. He could turn out to be the absolute steal of the 2017 draft.
• Following a down season last year in Rockford, Alexandre Fortin seems to have regained his wheels. That can only be good for the Icehogs.
• Niklas Nordgren looks smaller on the ice than I had anticipated (big surprise, right?) and got pushed around quite a bit in the contact drills.
• The newest Blackhawks prospect, MacKenzie Entwistle, is a big lumbering kid. I am interested to see if he can be a power forward at the pro level.
• Defenseman Roope Laavainen has some decent size but his foot speed is still in need of help.
• Clearly, Dennis Gilbert and Blake Hillman are trying to use their size to catch the eye of the Blackhawks staff.
• Mathias From has that Phillip Danault look and feel to him. He is listed at 6’1″ but looks taller this year. We could seem him jump to that next level as a legit prospect this year.
• As far as goalies go, Wouter Peeters is an absolute enigma. I still have not seen anything that makes him stand out as a prospect. This summer both Alexis Gravel and free agent invitee Linden Marshall are more noticeable, while Collin Delia out shined him the last two summers. Marshall is my under the radar goalie prospect, so far, this year. Remember that name, because he is likely going to show up somewhere, someday.
• Regarding the few free agents in camp, Kyle Maksimovich is a smaller forward with an edge but the Blackhawks have a bunch of those. Connor Moynihan, on the other hand, has some nice size that could come in useful. It seem strange saying that 209 lbs looks small but he could fill out his frame with another 15-20 lbs.

Check out some photos from day 1, right here:

The post Blackhawks Prospect Camp: Day 1 appeared first on The Rink.