Heartlanders get final shot at Fuel Saturday

Indianapolis, IN – The Iowa Heartlanders, proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, visit the Indy Fuel for their final road game of the regular season Saturday at 6:00 p.m.The Heartlanders are playing at Indy for the fifth time this season and each one of the five trips have been “stand-alone games,” meaning Iowa has made five individual trips to the Circle City this season.Iowa had a three-game winning streak snapped at Wheeling Friday in a 6-2 loss. Yuki Miura and Jake Durflinger scored.Indy clinched its third ever birth in the Kelly Cup Playoffs last month and is locked into the third seed in the Central Division, where they will face Cincinnati or Toledo in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Fuel last played Apr. 2 at Kalamazoo and dropped, 3-2, in overtime. Despite the loss, it moved the Fuel to 83 points, the best year in Indy’s nine ECHL seasons. The club also has 39 wins, a franchise record.The Heartlanders return home for Fan Appreciation Weekend and the final three games of the team’s regular season Apr. 12, Apr. 14 and Apr. 15 against Wheeling next week. Broadcast Coverage: Watch online at flohockey.tv. Listen on mixlr.com/goheartlanders.Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Indy Fuel (Chicago Blackhawks/Rockford IceHogs)Making sense of the road recordThe Heartlanders enter Saturday’s showdown with four wins in five road games. In those games, Iowa has outscored foes, 16-12. Iowa started the season with 0 road wins in their first 20 tries (0-13-7), but since has won seven of 15 road contests (7-8-0-0). The defense has been a huge boon for Iowa in those 14 games, allowing just three goals per game compared to more than four goals a contest in the opening 20 road games of the seasonHunter Jones has won five of the team’s seven road games this season.Tommy Parrottino leads Iowa with 22 goals this season, 14 of which have come on the road.Season seriesThe Heartlanders and Fuel are playing their 11th and final matchup of the season series Saturday. The Fuel have won seven of the ten games; two of those have been one-goal wins.The Heartlanders’ three victories came Jan. 7 and Mar. 10 at Xtream Arena and Feb. 10 at Indy. The Feb. 10 game was Iowa’s last game at Indy before Saturday.James Sanchez tops Iowa with six assists and seven points this season vs. Indy. Tyler Busch scored once the last time the teams played, giving him five goals against Indy this season (4 with Iowa, 1 with Fort Wayne). Nolan Orzeck has three of his six career goals against Indy. Tommy Parrottino has scored three times as well against the Fuel.Indy’s Alex Wideman leads all players with nine points (3g). 12 Fuel players have scored multiple times against Iowa this season.All-time, Iowa is 4-4-1-0 at Xtream Arena against the Fuel and 6-10-2-0 overall (2-6-1 all time at Indy).Upcoming home games and ticket informationView the team’s full promotional schedule at iowaheartlanders.com/promotions. The Heartlanders final three home games of the season take place Wednesday, Apr. 12, Friday, Apr. 14 and Saturday, Apr. 15 vs. the rival Wheeling Nailers. On Apr. 12 at 7:05 p.m., it’s a Wednesday night matchup presented by Mercy Iowa City. On Apr. 14-15, it’s fan appreciation weekend, with puck drops both nights at 7:05 p.m. The game on Apr. 14 is presented by United Iowa Financial. On Apr. 15, we’re extending stick tapes to our fans with a jam-packed final home game of the regular season, including a game-worn jersey auction, player card giveaway presented by Iowa City Area Sports Commission and a fanbango giveaway presented by Steindler Orthopedic Clinic.Single-game tickets, group ticket options, partial plans and season ticket memberships are available for Heartlanders home games at Xtream Arena.  Call 319-569-goal or visit iowaheartlanders.com/tickets for more information.Tickets are available for all Heartlanders home games by visiting iowaheartlanders.com/tickets. Find the full promotional schedule at iowaheartlanders.com/promotions