St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (March 29)

Not only are the St. Louis Blues trying to make a late-season surge towards the Stanley Cup playoffs, but their prospects are also into the win-or-go-home mode.

From their prospects in Springfield of the American Hockey League pushing to reach the Calder Cup playoffs to those who have aspirations to win their respective junior championships and/or a Memorial Cup to one remaining college prospect vying for a spot in the Frozen Four and those overseas in the KHL in Russia, Sweden and Finland, it's go time for all.

* Lets check in first with the Thunderbirds, who are in a tight race for one of the few remaining playoff spots with Hershey, Bridgeport and Lehigh Valley for three spots available and the four teams are separated by just three points, and after starting the week with a tough 2-1 loss to Atlantic Division-leading Providence, getting the loan goal from Julian Gauthier, the Thunderbirds soared back with two huge wins and four points on Friday and Sunday:

In a must win on Friday against the Phantoms, the Thunderbirds came away with a huge road win, winning 5-3 highlighted by a goal and an assist each by Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and Juraj Pekarcik (2023, third round).

Kaskimaki would give Springfield a 3-2 lead following up on a rebound of Calle Rosen's point shot with 10:52 remaining:

Pekarcik would net what amounted to be the game-winner with 8:40 remaining in the third:

And Hugh McGing (2018 fifth-round pick) would really ice two huge points scoring with six minutes and change remaining for a 5-2 lead:

On Sunday in the rematch against the Bruins, a 4-2 Springfield win, Akil Thomas, acquired in the trade that sent Nikita Alexandrov to Ontario, would net his first as a T-bird working it with Zach Dean, who had two assists in the game:

And Felix Trudeau, who the Blues signed last week to a two-year, entry-level contract out of Sacred Heart University, scored his first professional goal to make it a 4-0 game in the third period:

And let's not forget about goalie Vadim Zherenko (2019, seventh round), who has now won three of his past four starts, had 35 saves, including this beauty to keep it a 1-0 game:

Springfield is now 27-29-6-2 on the season, good for 62 points, which puts them in the sixth and important position to lock up a playoff spot, tied with Lehigh Valley in points but with a game in hand, two points behind fifth-place Bridgeport, three points behind fourth-place Hershey with eight games left in the season.

Since Steve Ott took over as coach on Jan. 19 after being reassigned from being associate coach of the Blues, Springfield has gone 14-11-2-0 to get back in the thick of it. 

And think about how many of Springfield's top players were moved up to the Blues this season, from Dalibor Dvorsky to most recently, Theo Lindstein. It would be a terrific story considering there was a coaching change and the Thunderbirds' poor start to the season.

* Let's go to Michigan State, where defenseman Colin Ralph (2024, second round) has been on the Spartans blue line this season, and unfortunately, it all came to a surprising end this weekend when No. 3 Michigan State was upset by No. 12 Wisconsin, 4-3 in overtime in the Worcester Regional final to reach the Frozen Four in Las Vegas.

Ralph, who finished his sophomore season with a goal and 10 assists and 48 blocked shots in 37 games with a plus-20 rating, could return to school for his junior season. It's still up in the air as to turning pro or not, but one would have to think after falling short of a national championship, the defenseman could decide what Jimmy Snuggerud did last year by returning to the University of Minnesota and chase a national title while fine-tuning his game before turning pro.

* The Blues have a slew of junior prospects competing in the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League playoffs that got underway this past week.

We start with Justin Carbonneau (2025, first round, No. 19 overall) and Blainville-Boisbriand of the QMJHL, who opened their best-of-7 first-round series at home against Victoriaville, and in the opener, a 5-3 Armada win on Friday, Carbonneau had one helper, but in Game 2 on Saturday, a 6-3 Armada win to take a 2-0 lead in the series, Carbonneau had this goal and three assists to give him five points in two games after finishing the regular season with 80 points (51 goals, 29 assists) in 60 games:

The series shifts to Victoriaville for Games 3-4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For defenseman Adam Jiricek (2024, first round, No. 16 overall), it's also a 2-0 series lead for top-seeded Brantford of the OHL, winning Game 1 on Friday, 6-2, in which Jiricek picked up an assist, and then winning Game 2, 4-2 on Sunday.

That best-of-7 series shifts to Sudbury for Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 on Thursday.

Lukas Fischer (2024, second round) and Sault Ste. Marie opened their series on the road at London, and the defenseman had a goal and an assist on Friday in Game 1, a 4-1 win; his wrister from the point turned out to be the game-winner:

Fischer had an assist on Sunday to help the Soo take a commanding 2-0 series lead with a 3-2 overtime win on Sunday.

That best-of-7 series shifts back with the Greyhounds having home ice for Games 3-4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

For Adam Jecho (2024, third round) and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL, this could be a long best-of-7 series judging by how tight Games 1-2 were against Saskatoon.

Jecho had a power-play assist in the opener last Friday, a 3-2 win by the Blades, but the Oil Kings evened the series at 1-1 with a 4-3 overtime win on Sunday.

Games 3-4 move to Saskatoon on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Game 5 will be in Edmonton on Friday, April 3.

For defenseman Will McIsaac (2024, fifth round) and Spokane, it's an uphill climb in the best-of-7 first-round series against Prince George in the WHL when the Cougars took the opener, 6-3, on Friday, before taking Game 2, 3-2 on Saturday.

McIsaac, who announced his intentions to attend the University of Connecticut next season, didn't record a point but had six shots on goal, including four in Game 2.

The Chiefs will host Games 3-4 on Monday and Wednesday trying to stay in the series.

Another 4-5 seed matchup with Antoine Dorion (2024, seventh round) and Quebec taking on Charlottetown in the first round of the QMJHL could also see a long series after the Islanders held serve in Game 1, winning 5-3 on Friday, but the Remparts evened the series at 1-1 by taking Game 2, 5-2, on Saturday.

Dorion hasn't registered a point but had four shots, including three in Game 2, and the series now shifts to Quebec for Games 3-5 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, April 3.

* Let's go overseas to Russia and the KHL, where CSKA Moscow, the fourth seed in the Western Conference, is taking on fifth-seeded SKA St. Petersburg, and it's a matchup of Dmitry Buchelnikov (2022, second round acquired in trade with Detroit Red Wings) and CSKA with a commanding 3-1 series lead on Matvei Korotky (2024, seventh round) SKA in the Gagarin Cup playoffs.

Buchelnikov had the primary assist on the overtime winner in Game 1 last Monday, a 3-2 CSKA win, then scored this absolute banger of a goal in Game 2 on Wednesday to put CSKA up 4-1, en route to a 4-2 win:

Korotky, who has just an assist (Game 2) in four games in the series, and SKA came home to win Game 3, 1-0, but CSKA took Game 4, 4-2, on Sunday and could wrap up the series at home on Tuesday.

For Mikhail Fyodorov and the top seed in the East, Magnitogorsk Metallurg, it's a commanding 3-0 series lead over Mikhail Abramov (2019, fourth round, Toronto Maple Leafs) and No. 8 Sibir Novosibirsk.

Fyodorov opened the scoring in Game 1, a 4-1 Metallurg win last Tuesday (20 seconds into highlights):

He also scored last Thursday in Game 2, a 5-1 win (6:55 into the highlights):

Metallurg went on the road and took Game 3, 3-1 to grab a stranglehold on the series.

And then there's Arseny Koromyslov (2022, fourth round) and No. 6 in the East, Traktor, in a 3-1 series hole against No. 3 Ak Bars.

Koromyslov had an assist in Traktor's only win in Game 3, 3-2, but Ak Bars opened with a 3-2 overtime win, then won 4-2 in Game 2 and won on the road also 3-2 in overtime.

Koromyslov had four shots on goal in the opener while playing 20:31, then played 29:00 in Game 4 with five blocked shots.

 * To Sweden and goalie Love Harenstam (2025, sixth round), who started the series for Sodertalje against favorite Kalmar and allowed 11 goals the first three games of the series, including stopping 37 of 40 in Game 1 but was pulled for Games 4-5, only to return to the cage for Game 6 and stopped 24 of 26 in a 3-2 win, including one here at the 1:25 mark to preserve a 2-1 lead and two more starting at the 2:07 mark:

And then another coup de grâce moment when in the winner-take-all Game 7, Harenstam came up with his best yet, a 37-save performance in a HockeyAllsvenskan playoff series, which ended with 2-0 Sodertalje win:

* And in Finland, Ondrej Kos (2024, third round) has had himself a tough season with injuries, specifically, concussion issues but was able to return here at the end of the season and play four games in for Ilves in Finland's Elite League, Liiga (one goal, one assist). He also played for Ilves' U20 team and has tore it up in the playoffs with seven points (three goals, four assists) getting games in with the U20s while the senior club waited for its second-round playoff series to begin after having a bye in the first round.

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