MALLARDS THIS WEEK

Friday: at Fort Wayne Komets

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. WHERE: War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Ind.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: It's the Mallards' first trip to Fort Wayne since March 23, 2007, when the Q-C crew won a 7-6 United Hockey League contest in a shootout. Fort Wayne is 5-2-0-0 and among the victories was a 3-1 Oct. 24 decision at the i wireless Center that started the Mallards' five-game winless streak. Veterans P.C. Drouin and Colin Chaulk lead the Komets in scoring with 8 points apiece.

Saturday: at Bloomington PrairieThunder

WHEN: 7 p.m. WHERE: U.S. Cellular Center, Bloomington, Ill.

What you need to know: The Mallards were a 3-1 loser in the only previous regular-season meeting with a team they will see more than any other this year. Bloomington continues to lead the league with a 6-3-0-1 record that includes a perfect 4-0-0-0 home mark.

Sunday: vs. Bloomington PrairieThunder

WHEN: 4 p.m. WHERE: i wireless Center

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Thunder field five of the league's top 10 scorers, including Ryan Finerty and Bill Bagron, who have 11 points apiece. Bagron had a hat trick in a matter of 4:23 last week.

NOTEBOOK

Bad luck or bad ice?

Coach Frank Anzalone said defenseman Matt Burke suffered a broken ankle when his skate got caught between the ice and sideboard at Flint's notorious Perani Arena and Event Center.

"Partly an ice issue, partly a bad-luck issue,'' the coach said. "Sometimes, when it rains, it pours.''

The injury occurred in the second period, when Burke, a second-year pro who had a pair of assists and a minus-1 rating through seven games, caught his skate and was hit at the same time by a Flint player.

He was in a cast Tuesday, and Anzalone said he could be lost for four to eight weeks.

Searching for Sakic

If a grizzled NHL veteran like Bryan Smolinski will sign with Flint, coach Frank Anzalone holds out hope of his own.

"If Joe Sakic calls me and says I'd like to come in, like Smolinski, and play for your hockey club, and he wants to play for $400 a week, I'll bring him in,'' the Q-C coach joked during a rare light moment in the midst of an early Q-C slump.

Heat start hot

The American Hockey League's Abbotsford Heat, formerly the Quad-City Flames, briefly climbed into the division lead after completing a four-game winning streak with a win over Rockford on Friday.

The Calgary farm team never managed to climb higher than fourth in its division during a two-year stay in the Quad-Cities.

After a loss Saturday to Rockford, the Heat are 8-5-2-1 for the season and in third place in the North Division, four points back of division-leading Rochester.

Jamie Lundmark is tied for 11th in the league in points with five goals and eight assists.

Meet Jacques Perrault

Age: 24

Height, weight: 6-foot-4, 215 pounds

Position: Defenseman

From: Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Was it hard growing up in Michigan with a name like Jacques?

"Yeah, every now and then you'd get a bad name. Jacques-strap, which I didn't like when I was young, but, for the most part, it was pretty clean. It wasn't bad growing up around Detroit with a weird name.''

Is it hard growing up in Michigan having to be a Lions fan?

"Well, first of all, I'm loyal. So anything Detroit. We have the Red Wings. I guess the Tigers made it to the World Series. But the Lions? Yeah, they're hopeless.''

Jacques Perrault doesn't talk French, but does talk Italian (food) at Meet the Mallard at QCTimes.com.