The Indy Fuel opened the new year with a convincing shutout victory, blanking the Bloomington Bison 5-0 in their first home game of 2026.

Despite being outshot 26-25, the Fuel built an early lead and never looked back, scoring three times in the first period and adding two more in the third to secure the win.

Indy struck first at 4:35 of the opening period when Mike Van Unen scored his first professional goal, finishing a play set up by Tyler Paquette and Owen Robinson. The Fuel doubled the lead on their first power play of the night, as Sahil Panwar scored 21 seconds into the advantage at 12:49, with Lee Lapid and Matt Petgrave earning assists.

The Fuel continued to capitalize on special teams later in the period. After another Bloomington penalty, Petgrave scored a power-play goal at 16:57, assisted by Jordan Martin and Lapid, to give Indy a 3-0 lead. The opening period also featured a brief altercation between Indy’s Mikael Robidoux and Bloomington’s Michael Marchesan, with both players receiving roughing minors.

Neither team scored in the second period, though both sides had power-play opportunities that were successfully killed. Indy carried its three-goal lead into the third period while holding a narrow edge in shots.

Petgrave added his second goal of the game at 12:43 of the third period, finishing a play from Cody Laskosky and Jadon Joseph to make it 4-0. The Fuel closed out the scoring later in the period and preserved the shutout despite several late penalties and misconducts as tensions rose.

Fuel goaltender Owen Flores turned aside all 26 shots he faced to earn the shutout, helping Indy secure a strong start to the 2026 calendar year on home ice.

The Fuel have now climbed to an over .500 record with 12 wins, 11 losses, 3 overtime losses and one shootout loss, for 28 points and fifth place in the Central Division.  The Fuel are back in action Saturday night, once again at the Fishers Event Center, facing the Kalamazoo Wings.