Perrott OT Tally Sparks Fuel Victory over Iowa

CORALVILLE, IA – The Iowa Heartlanders tied the score with 2:33 left in the contest on Wednesday, but Andrew Perrott scored the game-winner 1:57 into overtime to give the Indy Fuel a 3-2 victory. Tyler Busch and Brendan Robbins scored for the Heartlanders. Zach Driscoll made 27 saves for Indy and Hunter Jones stopped 28 shots.
Busch gave Iowa the lead 2:03 into the contest. With the Fuel on the power-play, James Sanchez made a great outlet pass out of his own and right onto the tape of Busch before he entered into the Indy zone. He made a nice move to draw Driscoll to one side before putting the puck under the crossbar for his sixth goal of the year.
The lead did not last long however, as the Fuel tied the score, netting a power-play tally at 3:21. Luc Brown moved the puck to Bryan Lemos, who beat Jones with a wrist shot for his 12th goal of the year.
Indy continued to buzz around the Heartlanders zone, outshooting the home team 16-4 in the first period. That led to a goal just 71 seconds after the Lemos tally. Matt Watson blasted a wrist shot that Alex Wideman tipped past to Jones for his 12th of the year.
The Heartlanders began to turn the tide in the second period, outshooting the Fuel 15-4. However, Driscoll was spectacular, denying several good chances for Iowa.
That sent the contest into the third period, where Indy looked like they were going to earn the victory in regulation. However, Robbins tied the score with just under three minutes left. A shot by Jake Durflinger was saved by the Indy netminder, but the puck deflected up in the air where Robbins was able to swat it in for his third goal of the year.
That sent the game to overtime where Perrott scored the game-winner just under two minutes into the extra session. Perrott had the puck along the half boards inside the Iowa zone. He lifted a pass to Kale Howarth at the left point, who sped down along the boards behind the goal before coming out the opposite side. There he found Perrott just above the left face-off circle, who fired a wrist shot through the legs of Jones for his second goal of the year.
The OT loss dropped Iowa to 6-14-8. The Heartlanders will take on the Fuel (21-8-1) again on Friday. The puck drops at 7:05.
by Robert Pannier