Boutin also deserved far better support from the team in front of him...
JHN-1
BAK-2 (SO)
Jonathan Boutin stopped 48 of 49 shots faced before falling in the shootout against Bakersfield. Justin Kelly and Adam Henrich had assists in the game.
Game sheet from ECHL.com.
Like pulling teeth...
TOR-1
TB-2
John Grahame stopped 20 of 21 for the victory in a night checking game that often resembled a rugby scrum.
Paul Ranger notched an assist on a good crisp breakout pass that Vincent Lecavalier quickly moved up to Marin St. Louis who broke in for a goal on Ed Belfour. Ranger played 16:43 tonight and was +1 although he did take two minor penalties. It seems to me he's struggled a bit in his own zone in the past week or so as forwards physically challenge him along the wall. Plays where he was effectively slipping checks last month he's getting caught by forecheckers now and they're testing him.
Evgeny Artyukhin with a physical 7:34 of ice time in which he registered 3 hits.
Game sheet from NHL.com.
In a match-up of two Lightning prospects seemingly headed in opposite directions, Stan Lascek and the powerful Chicoutimi Sagueneens beat the lowly Rimouski Oceanic and Mark Tobin 7-5 Tuesday night. Both prospects had two points on the night - Lascek with two assists, and Tobin with a goal and a helper.
Lascek, a fifth round pick in last year's draft, is leading the QMJHL in scoring and has already surprassed his goal total from all of last season. He's an early MVP candidate and is nearly a lock for a professional contract. Tobin, on the other hand, was a late second rounder in 2004 and was thought to have more scoring touch than he initially showed in his draft year (22-16-38 in 69 games). Last season, playing on one of the best teams to ever win the QMJHL title, Tobin was unable to raise his goal total, matching the 22 he scored the year before. However, he did add 12 more assists to finish 22-28-50 in 68 games - thanks to some power play time with Sidney Crosby and Dany Roussin and the like. If there was a positive to not being able to play on a regular line with a super-prospect like Crosby last year, it was that Tobin never saw the opposition's best checking line.
Tonight, three Lightning WHL prospects will suit up together for the first time since Traverse City as Team WHL faces Russia in the ADT Canada/Russia Challenge. Andy Rogers (Prince George), Justin Keller (Kelowna), and Blair Jones (Moose Jaw) will represent the league against a Russian team that is 0-4 so far against the QMJHL (0-2) and the OHL (0-2). All three will play tonight in Regina, but only Keller will play the day after in Saskatoon.
Morgan Cey deserved better from the team in front of him.
JHN-4
LV-5 (SO)
Morgan Cey made a mind boggling 54 saves in this contest before falling in the shootout. Listening to the streaming broadcast, it was very interesting to me how the young Lightning prospects other than Cey and Toffey really struggled to make an impact in this game. Perhaps the travel or, worse, the place they traveled to (Sin City) factored into their performance.
Toffey had a goal and an assist. Veteran Randy Rowe had 2 goals including the tying goal with just seconds left in regulation.
Game sheet from ECHL.com.