Flames running out of fire against Wolves

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By David Brown | Tuesday, April 15, 2008 |

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Denied a spot in the AHL playoffs but having regular-season games on the schedule, the Quad-City Flames these days still play for plenty.

Or, they ought to.

Coach Ryan McGill doubted how much his players cared after the Flames fell to the Chicago Wolves, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon.

“We had no compete level on our power play, and our penalty killing in the third period was mentally weak,” said McGill, whose team was shut out for the third time in its past five games.

The Flames (35-32-2-7) were eliminated from the Western Conference playoffs Saturday, which probably will make for a very long final week.

McGill scoffed at the notion that missing the playoffs gave players license to lose motivation.

“That’s embarrassing if it’s that’s the case,” McGill said, his voice rising. “They’re still getting paid, aren’t they? They’re still getting paid, they’re still professional athletes and they still owe it to the team and the organization to compete both physically and mentally, 100 percent, every game.

“And if they don’t want to, they can go” find another line of work.

Winger Grant Stevenson more or less echoed those sentiments, adding: “it’s embarrassing not making (the playoffs), and everyone’s frustrated. Now, the things are on the line are pride, contracts and playing for each other. That’s our motivation right now.”

Not enough, apparently, McGill said. Much of

McGill’s ire came from the Flames failing to break a scoreless tie with a two-man advantage on a 2-minute power play that bridged the end of the first and beginning of the second period.

Chicago goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made some solid saves and Wolves defenders checked and cleared the puck well, but McGill also discredited his own guys.

“We had opportunities on our power play, and it wasn’t a matter of us not executing, it was a matter of us not competing for loose pucks,” said McGill, whose team came in ranked 20th on the power play.

Stevenson said the team’s power play seems closer to dead last right now.

“It was just us not getting it done, basically,” Stevenson said. “We didn’t support each other well, we didn’t get a lot of quality shots. Five-on-three, we should be able to score on that. It’s been (like that) the last few games.”

Chicago’s Joe Motzko scored at even strength with about 7 minutes remaining in the second period, and he added a power-play goal in the third.

Chicago (51-20-2-3) has the West Division title wrapped, but the Wolves still are competing for the conference’s best record.

“I would say they weren’t playing to their offensive capabilities until the third period when they needed to score the goals,” McGill said. “When we had opportunities to score a goal, we didn’t.”

The final 3:07 of the first period was delayed until after the period break because a player's stick shattered a pane of glass into the crowd.

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or e-mail sports@qctimes.com.