Gudas, Radko

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 March 12 is … Radko Gudas, D, Tampa Bay (NHL – USA).

Lightning prospect followers have waited both patiently and impatiently for Radko Gudas to be called up to Tampa Bay, and it finally happened on Monday – but that’s not why he’s our Prospect of the Week.

It happened.

Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman called up 2010 third round draft pick Radko Gudas from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch today.

Finally.

Gudas, a right-handed, people-moving defenseman, has been knocking at the NHL’s door for the past year, but especially in the last two months. While Tampa Bay’s defense has struggled, Gudas has been playing big, effective minutes in all game situations in Syracuse - just like Yzerman wanted.

It was only a matter of time before Yzerman couldn’t afford to leave Gudas in the AHL any longer.

Kings of the comeback trail.

SYR-4
STJ-2

Riku Helenius allowed 2 goals on 25 shots for the victory.

First Period
STJ Gagnon, (4) (Mouillierat, Sawada), 4:57
STJ Gagnon, (5) (Cormier, O'Dell), 16:01 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Taormina, (4) (Brown), 2:23 (PP)
SYR Wyman, (11) (Panik, Korobov), 11:44

Third Period
SYR Connolly, (24) (Gudas, Nightingale), 9:15
SYR Johnson, (31) (Panik, Wyman), 10:44

J.T. Wyman and Radko Gudas were the game's first and third stars.

Syracuse again staked the IceCaps to a 2-0 lead and again came back to snatch victory away from them. Richard Panik has 5 points, all assists, in 5 games since being returned from Tampa. Panik attack, y'all.

With Sprigfield stubbing their toe twice against Albany, Syracuse has opened up a 4 point lead in the East with the Falcons holding 3 games in hand. The Crunch are off until Friday when they face Norfolk.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Jon Cooper must be a Jedi.

SYR-7
BNG-1

Riku Helenius (pictured) allowed 1 goal on 34 shots for the victory. His season save percentage is still languishing at .885, but he's only allowed 1 goal over his last 2 starts and has stopped 56 of 57 shots in that span. There's not a huge opening for Helenius, but with Tokarski gone, if he can take the #1 job in Syracuse and run with it for a great second half and a deep playoff run, he could set himself up to the NHL.

First Period
SYR Connolly, (20) (Tyrell), 3:51 (PP)
SYR Wyman, (7) (Gudas), 5:36
SYR Hutchings, (1) (Angelidis, Cote), 8:12
SYR Wyman, (8) , 11:03 (SH)

Second Period
SYR Labrie, (9) , 12:55
BNG Prince, (10) (Cannone, Lebda), 16:18 (PP)

Third Period
SYR Wyman, (9) (Connolly, Barberio), 4:40
SYR Tyrell, (2) (Wyman, Gudas), 19:23 (PP)

J.T. Wyman, Brett Connolly, and Helenius were the game's three stars.

Connolly becomes the third Crunch player to hit 20 goals this season (Johnson and Panik). Dana Tyrell has 3 points in 3 games since being sent down to the AHL. After posting two straight multi-point games, Radko Gudas is just 3 points shy of his pro high in points. He's also 6 PIMs shy of his pro high in penalty minutes, too, for that matter.

Entering the night, Binghamton was tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and Syracuse just smashed them after destroying Albany 6-0 on Wednesday night. Whatever voodoo potion Jon Cooper employed to not only weather all the call ups, the trade of his #1 goaltender, and the lineup shuffling, but to start annihilating teams in the midst of it all, he needs to Fedex a supply to Guy Boucher.

Syracuse draws Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

No Panik? No Killorn? No problem.

SYR-6
ALB-0

Riku Helenius stopped all 24 shots he faced for the shutout victory.

First Period
SYR Barberio, (7) (Johnson, Connolly), 0:45 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Korobov, (3) (Devos, Gudas), 4:30 (PP)
SYR Gudas, (4) (Korobov, Namestnikov), 5:07 (PP)
SYR Tyrell, (1) , 12:21 (SH)
SYR Wyman, (6) (Devos, Barberio), 16:49 (PP)
SYR Angelidis, (8) , 19:44 (SH)

Third Period
NO SCORING

Helenius, Radko Gudas, and Dmitry Korobov were the game's three stars.

Dana Tyrell chipped in a shorthanded goal in the victory.

Box score from TheAHL.com.