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Quad-City gets crucial win

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By Jeremy Rakes | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:46 AM CDT | () comments

HOUSTON — Quad-City’s playoff hopes needed a good jolt. The Flames entered the first of two games against Houston in seventh place in the Western Division and looking up at the rest of the competition.

The Flames got the shock they needed with a 4-2 win over the Aeros on Monday at Toyota Center.

The win brings Quad City within four points of Houston, which is in fifth place and, with the current playoff format, would have the final playoff spot.

“It was a huge win for us,” Quad-City coach Ryan McGill said. “Through the first 40 minutes, we played outstanding, but we started to let them back in the game in the third period. We got the win, which we needed, and that’s what’s most important.”

The teams had an extra 18 minutes of intermission after the first period, as one of the two ice resurfacers used to clear the ice broke down. The layoff didn’t hurt the Flames, who scored 1 minute, 26 seconds into the second period, when Cam Cunning took control of a loose puck in the right circle and fired a shot high past Aeros’ goalie Barry Brust.

The Flames (31-27-2-7, 71 points) upped their lead at 11:48 of the second period when Matt Pelech received a pass from Brandon Prust on the right crease and blooped it over Brust’s right shoulder for the 2-0 lead.

“It was big for us to score first,” McGill said. “I knew that if we could play with the lead, we would be okay.”

Quad-City extended its lead 9:30 into the third period when Derek Couture wrapped one just inside the right post, but Houston came back with a goal at 12:13 in the third by Marco Rosa.

In an interesting bit of strategy, the Aeros (35-24-2-3, 75) had pulled Brust for an extra skater earlier in the third period without allowing a goal so, just after the Rosa goal, they tried it again. This time, Cunning burned them with an empty-netter from just inside the Aeros’ blue line at 12:41, effectively ending the Aeros’ chances.

Houston cut the lead to 4-2 at 15:52 in the third with a Peter Olvecky power-play goal.

The Aeros had a number of good chances in the final minutes to narrow the gap to one, but Flames goaltender Curtis McElhinney stood his ground. After one flurry in front of the net with a minute remaining in the third, McElhinney threw the puck to center ice in the direction of the benches.

“I was expressing my frustration,” said McElhinney, who finished with 28 saves. “We have had leads in past games and let them get away from us, and we were doing that again.

“We can’t sit back and let that happen after we have played a good 40 minutes. Houston is the team we are chasing, and this was a good win despite us sitting back the final 20 minutes. This win was crucial for us right now.”

Monday morning, the Flames recalled defenseman Brad Cole from Las Vegas. Because he was not on the Clear Day roster earlier this month, Cole would be eligible to play only if two players join Brett Palin on the unofficial injury list. Palin did not make the trip to Houston after missing last weekend’s games.