Flames rebound, end home skid
The Quad-City Flames spent Saturday morning counting the hundreds and hundreds of minutes since they had found the net at home or skating five-on-five anywhere.
After ending both frustrating streaks with a Kris Chucko goal midway through the second period of a Saturday scrap with the rival Iowa Stars, the Flames had only to count off a handful of seconds for another big goal to come.
Carsen Germyn’s rebound goal with less than 2 minutes left to play in the game came just 15 seconds after the Stars had tied the game at a goal apiece, and it sparked the Flames to a feel-good 2-1 win on the night when they officially were eliminated from postseason contention.
“That was big for us,” coach Ryan McGill said of the battle-back victory. “We didn’t obviously want to give up that goal, but to come back on the next shift, throw the puck on the net and get a rebound is exactly what we have been looking for.”
The win came too late to stave off elimination from the Western Conference playoff race. A 2-1 Milwaukee win over Houston was the final mathematical nail.
Still, McGill’s club had few illusions about a miraculous late-season playoff run. Having dropped four of their previous five overall, and five straight at the i wireless Center, they merely were looking for any kind of a late-season reason to feel good about themselves.
Rookie goaltender Matt Keetley battled to give them that, coming within 2:08 of his first professional shutout before the Stars’ Bryce Lampman slipped a slapshot from the left circle past him at 17:52 of the third.
Given the Flames’ offensive struggles, particularly at the iwC, that game-tying goal seemed certain to send the affair to overtime.
It didn’t, though.
“We could have just fell down,” Keetley said. “But Carsen came back the next shift and we got it back.”
Not only did Germyn get the game-winning goal, he got it precisely the way McGill and his team had been failing to score goals in previous games, by crashing the crease and hunting the puck.
Germyn credited defenseman Tim Ramholt for firing the puck from deep and linemate Grant Stevenson for tipping it at Iowa goalie Tobias Stephan.
“It was just lying there for me,” he said.
The big goal sealed what felt like a big win, even if all it did was keep the rival Stars from scrambling into a seventh-place tie in the West Division.
The Flames (35-31-2-7) upped their lead on the last-place Stars (34-35-4-3) to four points in the division standings. And whatever else can be said about a disappointing debut season, these Flames don’t want to finish last in the West after winning the division in Omaha last year.
Plus, the Flames hadn’t won at home since late February.
“It always feels good to win,” Germyn said. “This one is a big relief.”
So was Chucko’s top-shelf goal from the right circle at 8:15 of the second period. It was the Flames’ first even-strength score in a matter of 325 minutes, and it was their first goal of any kind on iwC ice in 200 minutes.
Meanwhile, rookie Keetley was downright solid in a rare late season opportunity.
“I definitely was really excited,” the youngster said of only his second start in a month. “I usually have a pre-game nap, but I struggled with that. I was excited to get in goal.”
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.