Kucherov, Nikita

We continue our Prospect of the Week award, an honor (virtually) given to one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect for their recent contributions on and off the ice.

The Prospect of the Week for April 17 is … Nikita Kucherov, W, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL – Canada).

Karma, thy name is Kucherov.

Still hanging onto first place.

ALB-1
SYR-3

Riku Helenius allowed 1 goal on 28 shots for the victory. He came within 54 seconds of a shutout before Albany's power play goal. Still, with the effort tonight, Helenius has finally managed to get his save percentage back to .900 for the season. He had a good February and is having a good March, which the Lightning have to hope leads to a good Option B for Syracuse come playoff time.

First Period
SYR Namestnikov, (5) (Gauthier, Jacques), 13:39
SYR Sexton, (6) (Wyman), 14:25

Second Period
SYR Brown, (10) (Wyman, Sexton), 14:00

Third Period
ALB Anderson, (13) (Whitney, Gelinas), 19:06 (PP)

Dan Sexton, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Helenius were the game's three stars. Namestnikov's strong play in March also has to have the Lightning extremely happy. We at the website can't wait to see him and Nikita Kucherov lined up together, which could happen this season depending on how the QMJHL playoffs go.

With Providence going down to Worcester, Syracuse holds a 2 point lead on Binghamton for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Springfield and Providence lag by 3 points. Syracuse gets Rochester next on Wednesday, and with just 11 games left in the regular season every point matters from here on out, as it could be the difference between being 1 seed or a 4 seed.

6 of Syracuse's remaining 11 games are at home, including a nice 5 game homestand to close out the regular season. Also, 6 of the 11 games are against teams that currently would not make the playoffs, although the team they have the most games left with, ironically Norfolk, is just 2 points out of 8th in the East.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 2 @ Quebec Remparts 4

C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 0-0-0, -1, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 0 Hits
Season totals: 53 GP, 21-47-68, +21, 87 PIM

Paquette was scoreless as the Armada fell in Quebec City to Patrick Roy’s Remparts. B-B still leads the TELUS West Division by four points over Nikita Kucherov’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

We continue our Prospect of the Week award, an honor (virtually) given to one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect for their recent contributions on and off the ice.

The Prospect of the Week for February 19 is … Nikita Kucherov, W, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL – Canada)

Nikita Kucherov of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies is our Prospect of the Week for the fourth time this season, but this may have been his most impressive week of the year.

Kucherov, a 2011 second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, had 12 points in three games last week, including two five-point games. He has three five-point games this season.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 7 @ Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 5

W Nikita Kucherov, R-N: 2-3-5, +3, 0 PIM, 6 SOG, 0 Hits, *Third Star*
Season totals: 22 GP, 16-28-44, +11, 2 PIM
With R-N: 16 GP, 13-21-34, +12, 0 PIM
With Quebec: 6 GP, 3-7-10, -1, 2 PIM

C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 1-2-3, +2, 0 PIM, 4 SOG, 1 Hit
Season totals: 53 GP, 22-49-71, +24, 87 PIM

Kucherov (pictured) extended his point streak to 12 games with his second five-point night in his last three games. He has 12 points in those three games, which raised his season points-per-game average to two. Kucherov’s linemate, Swiss native Sven Andrighetto (2013), had four goals and two assists for first star honors. For the Armada, Lightning prospect Cedric Paquette had his first three-point night of February; he had four in January.

Val-d’Or Foreurs 5 @ Chicoutimi Sagueneens 7

D Artem Sergeev, VDO: Did not play
Season totals: 44 GP, 6-25-31, +19, 49 PIM

Sergeev missed Saturday’s game, likely the result of a match penalty he received on Friday against the Sags.

Ontario Hockey League

Mississauga Steelheads 0 @ Barrie Colts 3

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-1-1, +1, 2 PIM
Season totals: 53 GP, 4-17-21, +2, 58 PIM
With Barrie: 15 GP, 2-5-7, +1, 19 PIM
With Owen Sound: 38 GP, 2-12-14, +1, 39 PIM

Dotchin extended his point streak to a career-high four games with an assist while helping the Colts shut out the visiting Steelheads, 3-0. Undrafted German overager Mathias Niederberger made 28 saves for the win.

Guelph Storm 4 @ Plymouth Whalers 7

C/W Tanner Richard, GUE: 0-0-0, E, 0 PIM
Season totals: 43 GP, 8-45-53, +15, 90 PIM

Rickard Rakell, just assigned to Plymouth from the Anaheim Ducks, had a goal and two assists and Matthew Mistele (2014) had a hat trick for the Whalers in their home win over Guelph. Rakell had no points in four games with Anaheim this season.

Note: Windsor’s Slater Koekkoek is out for the season with an injured shoulder.