The Indy Fuel slipped into the Kelly Cup Playoffs on the final day of the ECHL regular season. Their reward is a first-round series against the team that won the Western Conference Central Division.
Indy, the No. 4 seed at 34-27-11, opens a best-of-seven division semifinal against the Fort Wayne Komets, who finished 45-17-10 and claimed their first regular-season division title in 10 years. The Komets also reached the 100-point mark for the first time since 2015.
Games 1 and 2 are set for Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 at Fort Wayne, both with 7:35 p.m. puck drops. The series then shifts to Fishers Event Center for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 29, both at 7:05 p.m. If necessary, Game 5 would be May 3 in Fort Wayne, Game 6 on May 5 in Fishers and Game 7 on May 6 in Fort Wayne.
On paper, Fort Wayne carries the edge. The Komets dominated the 12-game regular-season series, going 9-2-1 against Indy. Kirill Tyutyayev hurt the Fuel repeatedly, posting 13 points in those meetings, while goaltender Nathaniel Day went 5-0-0 against Indy in the season series.
Fort Wayne also brings more proven firepower into the postseason. Austin Magera scored 32 goals, tied for third-most in the league, and Tyutyayev led the club with 68 points. William Dufour heads into the playoffs after earning ECHL Player of the Week honors earlier this month, when he piled up six goals and two assists in a three-game stretch. In net, Samuel Jonsson posted a 21-8-2 record and led the ECHL with five shutouts, while Day gave the Komets another reliable option with 22 wins.
The Fuel counter with a group that has been battle-tested just to get here. Indy has reached the postseason for the fourth straight year and the fifth time in six seasons. Defenseman Matt Petgrave led the Fuel in scoring with 48 points, and goaltender Mitchell Weeks carried a heavy workload, finishing 20-15-7 with a 2.46 goals-against average and the third-most minutes played in the league. Jesse Tucker was Indy’s top scorer in the regular-season matchup with Fort Wayne, collecting eight points.
One number that favors Indy: the Fuel were second in the ECHL in shots allowed per game at 26.17, evidence that when they are structured and disciplined, they can make life difficult even for high-powered opponents. But discipline may be the key word in this series. Fort Wayne’s power play finished fourth in the league at 23.1 percent, and the Komets showed again in the final regular-season meeting with Indy that they can punish mistakes with the man advantage.
There is also a strong local angle once the series reaches Fishers. The Fuel’s playoff roster includes forwards Jesse Tucker, Tyler Paquette, Cody Laskosky and Lee Lapid – defensemen Matt Petgrave and Chris Cameron – goaltenders Weeks and Owen Flores. Games 3 and 4 will give Fishers Event Center its first home playoff dates for this year’s Fuel club, with Tuesday’s game also promoted by the team as a “317 Night.”
This is the first playoff meeting between the Komets and Fuel, and Fort Wayne says it is the franchise’s first postseason matchup with an Indianapolis team since 1991. That adds another chapter to one of Indiana minor-league hockey’s most familiar rivalries.
For Indy, the path to an upset is fairly clear: steal one of the first two games in Fort Wayne, keep the Komets’ power play off the ice, and let Weeks give the Fuel a chance to bring a tied or favorable series back to Fishers. If that happens, what looked like a tough draw could suddenly become a very live series.
I expect some Fuel fans to make the trip up I-69 and attend one or both of the first two matchups in Fort Wayne. Tickets for games 3 and 4 at the Fishers Event Center are available at this link.