Flames shoot blanks vs. Admirals

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By Craig DeVrieze | Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:15 AM CDT | () comments

Quad City Flames goalie Matt Keetley watches the puck sail into the net for what proved to be the game-winning goal Saturday night at the i wireless Center. Buy this Photo

If a Saturday loss to the team they were pursuing in the Western Conference playoff race brought an end to the Quad-City Flames postseason hopes, the Flames went down with a whimper.

In front of the third-largest i wireless Center crowd of the season — 4,487 hoping-against-hope hopefuls — the Flames were shut out 1-0 by a Milwaukee Admirals backup goaltender who has won four times all year, two of those now by blanking the Flames on their home ice.

The Flames’ third straight loss did not officially eliminate the Q-C crew from the playoff race, but it did drop them 10 points behind the Admirals and Houston Aeros, who are tied for the final two available playoff spots in the conference.

With eight games left in the season, the Flames magic number for elimination is any combination of seven standings points Houston or Milwaukee gain or the Flames fail to collect.

“You never want to think that way,” Flames forward Brandon Prust said when asked if the postseason was slipping away. “We’re not mathematically out of it, but it was definitely a big loss.”

And an aggravating one.

The Flames outshot the Admirals 35-14, and Milwaukee’s lone really solid chance came on unscreened Matt Ellison’s goal from between the circles at 15:10 of the first. It slipped beneath the glove of rookie Flames goaltender Matt Keetley.

“He walked right into the slot,” Keetley said. “I saw (the shot) but it was a tough one to get to. It was a bang-bang play, and it was tough to get out fast enough to cut down the angle.”

The goal proved all the offense Milwaukee and goalie Maxime Daigneault would need against an offensively challenged Flames team that has scored just two goals during its late-season skid.

The Flames have been shut out four times, twice by Daigneault (4-5-0) and have been limited to just one goal 16 times more. Saturday’s was the 33-30-2-7 Flames’ 16th one-goal loss.

Despite the lopsided shots-on-goal advantage and a second-period power-play dart by Q-C defender Brett Palin that caught crossbar, coach Ryan McGill refused to argue that his team deserved a better fate.

“We may have had 35 shots, but we didn’t have 35 glorious chances,” McGill said. “We didn’t have guys driving through the crease, diving for pucks or giving that second- and third-effort. We were a first-effort team again tonight.”

There may be something to that.

In their three-game losing streak, the Flames have been credited with 98 shots. Two have gotten through.

The Flames finished a march through March that saw them wrap eight losses around four straight road wins, scoring a goal or less in six of those losses.

Is that a disappointing lack of late-season urgency?

“It’s not disappointing anymore,” said McGill, “because I’m not surprised. You have to have character to have urgency — character as a group. That means not accepting no for an answer. Not anything less than two points. We just accept it.”

The Flames might have to accept that what remains of this season is a fight to stay out of last place in the West Division. Last-place Iowa won Saturday and closed to within three points of the sixth-place Flames.

The two rivals play three times in April, including Tuesday in Des Moines.

Prospects coming?

The junior seasons of 2006 Flames draftees Leland Irving, John Armstrong and Juuso Puustinen are complete and both are eligible to join the Q-C Flames under Player Tryout Agreements.

None are here yet, though, and, if they are coming, coach Ryan McGill hasn’t heard.

He said a decision to get the two youngsters a late-season taste of the AHL is entirely up to Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter.

“They could be (coming) here,’’ McGill said prior to Saturday’s faceoff. “I’ll be the first to know and nobody’s told me anything yet.’’

Irving, a first-rounder, finished the Western Hockey League’s regular season with a 27-24-3 record, a .919 saves percentage and a 2.45 goals-against average. His Everett Silvertips were swept out of the playoffs in the opening round, however.

Puustinen, a forward from Finland, just finished his second WHL season with the Kamloops Blazers. A fifth-round draft pick, he has 27 goals and 26 assists this year after scoring 32 and 39 a year ago.

Armstrong, a center and third-round pick, had a career-high 21 goals and 36 assists for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League in his final junior season.

Hardy Pardy

Flames defenseman Adam Pardy played four games with a broken bone in his right foot before undergoing season-ending on Tuesday.

“That shows a lot about his character,’’ McGill said of the veteran All-Star’s willingness to play through the pain.

The coach said Pardy had to have surgery last week or risk that the bone might heal improperly and thus jeopardize his future.

Stevenson hits milestones

Grant Stevenson scored his 30th goal and 70th point with the Flames’ lone Friday goal, becoming the first Calgary prospect to reach either plateau since 2005.

Chuck Kobasew had 38 goals and 75 points for the Lowell Lock Monsters that year and since has gone on to play 293 National Hockey League games with Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins.