Head Coach Tom McDermott had this to say to his team before entering the Owens Center on Sunday afternoon: "For warmups, use somebody else's stick. Don't use your own." The Jr. Flames (13-22-3-2) will have to find another trick to try to snap their month-long losing streak following another 7-1 loss to the Peoria Mustangs (20-21-1-0).

Despite the lopsided result, McDermott wasn't displeased with his team's performance.

"You guys played two really good games this weekend," the coach told his team before the bus pulled out of the Owens Center parking lot. "I commend you for working your butts off until the end of today's game. Your confidence should not be shattered."

The game was as close as it would get after 20 minutes of play. Darren Schlueter gave Peoria a quick lead just over a minute into the contest when he beat Jr. Flames goalie Tanner Jones on a backhander from the side of the net for his eighth goal of the season. Cameron Brown (17) and B.J. Lomow (13) assisted on the play. The Mustangs made it 2-0 just 14 seconds into their first power play of the day. Brown (18) fed Alex Turin for his first of the afternoon and eighth of the year at the 9:11 mark, forcing McDermott to replace Jones with Michael Meadows. Quad City cut the Peoria lead in half with 1:23 remaining in the opening frame when Corey Sikich tapped a rebound of a Jared Fielden (15) attempt past Michael Parda for his fourth goal of the season. The Jr. Flames outshot the Mustangs in the period, 12-10.

Peoria struck three times in the second to take a 5-1 lead after two periods. With his team on the man advantage, Alex Turin scored his second of the game on a shot from the far circle to put the Mustangs back in front by a pair. Mike Mikulan (15) and Ben Krause (7) pitched in on Turin's ninth of the season. Turin was awarded a penalty shot halfway through the period, but Meadows made the stop to keep it a two-goal game. Josh Wentz would change that at the 14-minute mark when Mikulan (16) set him up with a cross ice feed to the near circle and the Cloquet, Minnesota native roofed it past Meadows for his third goal of the weekend and 14th of the year. Turin (14) had the secondary helper. In a 4-on-4 situation, Cameron Brown (8) lit the lamp with just 17 seconds left in the middle frame with help from Turin (15) and Cory Welnicke (11) to make it 5-1. Peoria put 11 pucks on net in the period to eight for Quad City.

The Mustangs scored two more power play goals in the third period to set the final at 7-1. Mike Mikulan scored his fifth goal of the weekend and 27th of the season from Welnicke (12) and Brown (19) to make it 6-1 at the 11:29 mark. Dylan Canoy capped off the scoring two minutes later with his third of the year with the lone assist to Ben Krause (8). The Jr. Flames had 16 shots on goal in the final frame for a game total of 36 and the Mustangs had 11 for a game total of 32. Peoria went 4-for-9 on the power play while Quad City went 0-for-6.

With their sixth straight win, Peoria moves into second place in the Central Division, just two points ahead of Chicago who had the weekend off. The Jr. Flames have next week off before their next crack at breaking the streak comes on Saturday, February 18th when they host the Minnesota Flying Aces at 8:30 p.m. They'll meet again the following afternoon for a 1:15 p.m. faceoff. Continue to check the broadcast schedule located on the left side of the home page for broadcast availability.