CALGARY – Four first period goals from the Calgary Flames Prospects made the difference as they defeated the University of Calgary Dinos 5-1 Wednesday night at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

BOX SCORE

Led by Belarusian forward Pavel Karnaukhov's two goals and an assist, the Flames had a strong start that the Dinos were unable to recover from, despite matching the pace of the National Hockey League prospects in the second and third period.

"We got caught cheating on the wrong side of the puck, gave up a bunch of odd man rushes in the first period and they scored on all of them," said Dinos head coach Mark Howell. "We didn't play responsibly, we didn't play hard to start the game. As the game went on we got better, I thought in the third period we had lots of chances and controlled part of the play but that's three games in a row where we're not as prepared as we need to play."

"With the exception of the first period, we had a few minutes lapse there, we felt like we could skate with them," veteran Dinos defenseman Spencer Edwards remarked. "We didn't really put together our best effort tonight which is unfortunate, but any time you get to play against players of that calibre it's a great learning block for our team, as individuals and as a group as well."

The Flames prospects picked up an early lead in the first when Kenney Morrison capitalized on a centering pass from Pavel Karnaukhov just 1:35 into the game. Dinos goaltender Steven Stanford kept his team close with several key saves, including a cross-crease pad save off a 3 on 1 opportunity until the final four minutes of the period when some offensive opportunities in the Dinos end resulted in three goals in 1:22 from Flames' prospects.

The second Flames' goal came on a perfectly placed wrist shot from Klimchuk in the high slot. Karnaukhov followed with a hard shot along the ice and Baillie roofed a backhander to give the Flames' prospects a commanding 4-0 lead after the first period.

"We had turnovers, forwards caught deep and d-men back in because they have to, so then all of a sudden they get two or three good chances that they put in the back of the net and from there we were a little on our heels," Howell explained. "We've got to make sure we're ready to play games and we're not right now."

The score remained the same through a more defensive middle frame which saw strong goaltending at both ends. The Dinos looked more comfortable in the second, but were unable to cut down the deficit as they continued to trail by four going into the final frame.

In a fast-paced third period, the Dinos got on the board with 5:52 remaining in the third on a hard point shot from Drydn Dow that was deflected in front by rookie forward Coda Gordon. Just over a minute later, Karnaukhov picked up his second goal of the night leading the Flames' prospects team to a 5-1 victory.

"We definitely need to work on our consistency," said Edwards. "Obviously there were parts of that game where we controlled the play a little bit in their end and there were parts where we felt like we were getting walked around a little bit. We need to start the game better and continue a full 60 minute game if we want to get results."

The Dinos hope to improve their performance next weekend when they travel to Regina for pre-season games against the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday Sept. 18 and the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday Sept. 19.

-UC-