The Indy Fuel fell behind early and could not recover Saturday night, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Fort Wayne Komets in Fort Wayne.

After a scoreless opening stretch, Fort Wayne broke through late in the first period. William Dufour put the Komets on the board with 4:22 remaining, and Kirill Tyutyayev followed roughly a minute later to give the home team a 2-0 advantage.

Indy answered before the intermission when Jesse Tucker scored at the 18:48 mark, with assists from Eric Martin and Jay Ahearn, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Shots were even at 7-7 after one period.

The Komets extended their lead early in the second when Austin Magera found the back of the net at 4:17. The Fuel responded later in the period as Owen Robinson scored following a Fort Wayne penalty, with Marcus Joughin earning the primary assist and Cody Laskosky adding the secondary helper to make it 3-2.

Fort Wayne regained momentum on a power play opportunity midway through the period. After Laskosky was called for tripping, Tyutyayev capitalized with his second goal of the night, pushing the Komets’ lead to 4-2. Indy generated offensive pressure in the period and outshot Fort Wayne 18-16, but could not close the gap.

In the third period, the Fuel had another chance with the man advantage but were unable to convert. Indy pulled goaltender Owen Flores for an extra attacker in the final minutes, but Fort Wayne sealed the game when captain Alex Aleardi scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-2.

Despite outshooting the Komets 23-20, the Fuel were unable to overcome the early deficit and special teams setback, falling by three goals on the road.