Justin Carbonneau rips off pair of hat tricks, up to 48 goals; a goalie fight(?); Colin Ralph(?) deciding games in a shootout; Jiricek ties franchise record; Stenberg back in action; Korotky scoring like Ovi
A four-game goalless streak for St. Louis Blues prospect Justin Carbonneau must not have sat too well for the first-round pick (No. 19) in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The forward had just gone goalless for four straight games for the second time this season. The past time it happened, he ripped off 12 goals in scoring in nine of 12 games.
This time, how about a pair of hat tricks ... back-to-back hat tricks.
Carbonneau scored three times and had an assist on Friday for Blainville-Boisbriand of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in a 7-1 win over Rimouski:
He then followed it up with another hat trick on Sunday in a 7-4 loss to Charlottetown:
That's seven points the past two games and eight points (six goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak, which now gives Carbonneau 48 goals and 73 points in 52 games on the season. The back-to-back hat tricks give Carbonneau 12 multi-goal games on the season, or 21 percent of the games he's played.
* Adam Jiricek ended a goal drought at 17 games when he scored twice, including the tying goal in the third period, and had an assist in a 5-4 win for Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League over Brampton on Wednesday.
His first gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead:
And his second of the game tied the score 4-4 and tied a Bulldogs record for most goals by a defenseman in a season:
The game gave Jiricek a three-game point streak (two goals, four assists) before coming up empty on Friday in a 7-3 win over Oshawa.
The 2024 first-round pick is now up to 49 points (15 goals, 34 assists) in 47 games this season and will break the franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman with his next one.
* Colin Ralph (Colin Ralph?) was in the spotlight for top-ranked Michigan State on Saturday to help the Spartans salvage a weekend split with Ohio State.
After falling 5-1 on Friday, the Spartans came back with a 13-round shootout win, 4-3, and the Blues' 2024 second-round pick scored the deciding goal in the 13th round:
Here's what Spartans coach Adam Nightingale had to say about using Ralph at that critical junture:
* Otto Stenberg (2025, first round) was back in action for Springfield of the American Hockey League after missing 13 days with a knee injury; he had two assists for the Thunderbirds in a 5-1 win over Charlotte on Saturday, including this beauty setting up Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (2022, third round) for this breakaway goal:
I would suspect that once rosters can expand following the trade deadline on Friday that we see Stenberg back in St. Louis, as long as the Blues remain cap compliant.
* Matvei Korotky (2024, seventh round) was at it again, scoring twice in three games for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The center scored scored a net front goal in a 4-2 win against Admiral Vladivostok last Tuesday (11:55 mark):
He would also draw this penalty (3:14 mark) and score a beauty of a one-timer to tie the game 1-1 in a 5-2 loss to Yaroslavl Lokomotiv on Saturday, a very Ovi-like goal:
The 20-year-old is now up to 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) in 35 games and is averaging 15:31 of ice time.
* Zach Dean (2021, first round, No. 30) has scored in back-to-back games for the Thunderbirds this weekend, and now has three goals in the past six games.
He would pick the op corner with the opening goal for Springfield in a 3-2 loss to Charlotte on Friday:
And on Saturday, he once again opened the scoring in the 5-1 win over the Checkers with this cheeky goal:
Dean, who has four goals and four assists in 22 games, has a point in three straight games and four of six (three goals, two assists).
* Adam Jecho (2024, third round) capped off his week with three games in three days on Sunday and had a goal and an assist in a 3-2 overtime win for Edmonton of the Western Hockey League over Swift Current.
Jecho, who has 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in 38 games this season, fired home this dart from the right circle to give the Oil Kings a 2-1 lead:
He would also score in the second period of a wild 10-6 loss to Medicine Hat last Tuesday to give him four points in four games this past week:
* Will McIsaac (2024, fifth round) had a goal and an assist this week in three games for Spokane of the Western Hockey League.
This snipe from the top of the left circle gave the Chiefs a 3-2 lead, ultimately winning 4-3 over Victoria last Tuesday to give the Spokane captain 29 points (seven goals, 22 assists) in 57 games and a plus-23 rating this season:
* And last, but certainly not least, goalie Will Cranley (2020, sixth round) wasn't expecting it but it always draws attention when there's a goalie fight, and he had one -- his first -- on Saturday with Checkers veteran Louis Domingue: