After a seven-goal outburst on Saturday night, the Quad City Jr. Flames (14-28-3-3) found the back of the net twice, but got doubled up by the Chicago Hitmen (23-21-1-3) 4-2 Sunday afternoon at The River's Edge.

The visitors grabbed a 1-0 lead six and a half minutes into the contest on a power play goal by Josh Baker (7). Mike Lozano (17) and Jeremy Edwards (31) assisted on the play. The Hitmen outshot the Jr. Flames in the opening frame, 13-10.

Chicago capitalized on another man advantage opportunity three and a half minutes into the second period. Kyle Gonzalez beat Quad City goalie Michael Meadows for his 14th goal of the season with help from Damen Fera (9) and Nick Gnagni (18). The Jr. Flames cut their deficit in half at the 14:47 mark when Ryan Ach (3) fed a wide-open Chayce Coenen who fired a shot through the pads of Joe Olen for his fifth goal of the year. Cole Chapman (6) earned the secondary assist. Shots on goal in the middle frame favored Quad City, 15-7.

The Hitmen scored twice in 30 seconds midway through the third. Chris Lozinak scored the eventual game-winning goal on a tap-in tally for his eighth of the season with the assists going to Gnagni (19) and Jeff Salzbrunn (20). Moments later, Gnagni (20) set up Salzbrunn moments later for his 10th goal of the year to make it a 4-1 game. Jared Fielden kept the Jr. Flames in the game late, scoring his 16th on a breakaway with just under three minutes remaining. Chapman (7) and Drake Fisher (14) were the setup men on the play. Unfortunately, that would be as close as Quad City would get as Chicago skated away with the 4-2 victory. The Jr. Flames fired 17 more shots on goal for a game total of 42 while the Hitmen tacked on just six more for a game total of 26.

UP NEXT: For the second time in as many years, the Jr. Flames will square off against the St. Louis Jr. Blues in the first round of the NA3HL playoffs. The best-of-three series will take place at Affton Ice Arena starting Friday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m. Game two will also start at 7:00 p.m. on the 17th with game three (if necessary) beginning at 1:15 p.m. on the 18th.

The winner of that series will go on to play the winner of the best-of-three series between Chicago and Peoria in the division finals. The winner of that game will go on to the NA3HL Championship which will be held at the Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Illinois March 30th-April 1st. The four teams will play in a round-robin tournament with the top two teams advancing to play for the 3HL Championship on April 2nd.

Unfortunately, the playoff games will not be broadcast here at qcjrflames.com. However, you can watch all of the action live at fasthockey.com. Thank you for your support during the 2011-12 season!! GO FLAMES!!