Powering through: Power play pushes 'Blades to 4-2 win

INDIANAPOLIS — Blake Winiecki scored two goals, and Ken Appleby stopped 26 shots to lead the Florida Everblades to a 4-2 win over the Indy Fuel on Thursday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

BOX SCORE

The Everblades (24-11-2-2, 52 pts.) converted twice on three power-play opportunities and scored four of the final five goals of the game to beat the Fuel (19-17-1-0, 39 pts.) in the first meeting between the teams in Indianapolis since Dec. 5, 2014.

Indy struck for the first goal of the game with 7:18 to play in the first period. Connor McDonald tracked down a loose puck in the slot and shoveled it past Appleby.

Florida evened the score on Justin Auger’s second goal in as many games. He carried the puck across the Indy blue line and cut through the left circle to an opening in the slot. From there, Auger roofed a shot over the glove of Indy goaltender Dan Bakala with eight minutes, 28 seconds gone in the second period.

After killing off two penalties, the ‘Blades took advantage of their first power play of the night to grab the lead. As Indy tried to clear the zone, Derek Sheppard recovered the puck in the slot and sent a behind-the-back pass to Logan Roe in the right circle. Roe’s shot was blocked, but the puck popped right to Winiecki for a snap shot to beat Bakala with 1:43 left in the middle stanza.

In the last five minutes of regulation, Winiecki scored his second power-play goal of the game to give the ‘Blades an insurance tally. Sheppard ripped a wrist shot from the deep slot, and Winiecki redirected it from between the circles to push Florida ahead 3-1 with 3:24 left in the game.

Indy answered back with a six-on-four power-play goal with 2:11 remaining in the game. The Fuel then got another six-on-four advantage with 1:38 left in regulation, but Florida’s Patrick McCarron scored on the empty net to seal the ‘Blades eighth win in their last 11 games.

‘BLADES BITES

• Florida scored seven power-play goals in its first 26 games. With two power-play goals on Thursday, the ‘Blades have notched nine power-play tallies in their last 13 games.
• Florida’s two power-play goals on Thursday were a season-high. The Everblades last posted multiple power-play goals in the same game in a 3-2 win over the Orlando Solar Bears on April 5, 2019.
• Winiecki's multi-goal game was his second of the season and seventh of his career. 
• Florida outshot Indy 32-28 and has held the advantage in shots on goal in 13 straight games, a season-high.
• Derek Sheppard and Logan Roe both finished with two assists. With his two helpers, Roe matched his career-high for points and now has 32 points (10g, 22a) this year.
• With the victory, Ken Appleby now holds sole possession of second place in the league in wins with 17.  

Next UpFlorida heads right back to Kalamazoo for a Saturday night matchup against the K-Wings. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. in the final game of Florida's season-high five-game road trip. 

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The Florida Everblades are the proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and AHL's Milwaukee Admirals