Flames rally to top Admirals
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By Andrew Wagner | Sunday, November 25, 2007 |
MILWAUKEE — After two periods of lackluster hockey, Quad-City Flames coach Ryan McGill knew something had to change.
With his team down by two goals to the Milwaukee Admirals, McGill decided to juggle his lines in an effort to get some offensive spark from his team.
Teaming up playmakers center Krys Kolanos with wingers Brandon Prust and Grant Stevenson paid off as the Flames rallied to post a 4-2 victory against the Admirals on Tuesday night at the Bradley Center. The trio finished the night plus-four, backing up McGill’s decision to switch.
“I thought with Kolanos’ speed through the neutral zone, Stevenson should be able to get him the puck,” McGill said. “It puts him in the right position and other guys back in the right positions where they will succeed.”
Stevenson benefitted from the new alignment and scored twice, including the game-winner at 15:31 of the final period. He slid the shot under the reach of Milwaukee goaltender Pekka Rinne.
“It’s one of those things where you might have to switch up the lines and try a couple different combinations to get things going,” Stevenson said. “We didn’t create much the first couple periods.”
The Admirals hopped on Flames goaltender Brent Krahn late in the first period on John Vigilante’s short-handed shot from the corner that just dusted the post. Milwaukee’s Chris Henry added the second goal at 1:34 of the second.
“It was a 2-on-2 and he shot the puck from between the top of the circle of the hash marks and he missed the top of the left post,” Krahn said of the first Admirals score. “It bounced off the backboard straight out back in front of the net onto the guy’s stick and he had an empty net to put it in.”
In his debut with Quad-Cities, Krahn fared better his first time out than his predecessor — which also came in Milwaukee — finishing with 19 saves and the victory.
“For the first game, I felt strong,” Krahn said. “The guys did a good job of keeping shots down tonight. It was a good test for me and for my teammates to play well as a unit tonight.”
Quad-Cities finally got on the board early in the third period when Kolanos beat Rinne of the post on at 1:23. After Milwaukee’s Kelsey Wilson drew a high-sticking penalty in the 11th minute, the Flames were able to even things up when Stevenson hit his first goal of the game, at 15:31.
“Coming back from two goals on the road when we certainly didn’t play our best in the first two periods is big,” McGill said. “We had a few chances in the first period and we weren’t mentally sharp the last 10 minutes of the first period, but give those guys credit … they took it upon themselves in between periods to refocus.”
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak to the Admirals, including two straight in Milwaukee. The Flames play their second of four games in five days when they take on the Iowa Stars tonight at the iWireless Center.
Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or e-mail sports@qctimes.com
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