Defending champion Blue Jackets remain perfect

Two days into play at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament, the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves on track to defend its championship.

In a game that pitted both of the first day winners against each other, the Jackets Prospects took control of the Ted Lindsay Division with an 8-5 win against the Minnesota Wild Prospects. St. Louis Blues Prospects meanwhile broke into the win column with a 2-0 shutout edge against the New York Ranger Prospects.

Blue Jackets 8 Wild 5

The offense got a little more off of the hook in each period in this one. The Jackets scored the first two in a three-goal first period, but the Wild owned a 4-3 cushion after a four-goal third and the Jackets scored all but one in a six-goal final frame.

Leading the charge for the Blue Jackets was Oliver Bjorkstrand, a Third Round (89th Overall) Selection of Columbus in the 2013 NHL Entry draft, with two goals and three assists in the contest.

TJ Tynan, also a Third Rounder (67th Overall) from the 2011 Entry draft collected two goals and an assist and Michael Paliotta, a third round selection (70th Overall) of the Blackhawks in 2011 chipped in a goal and assist. Kerby Rychel, a First Round selection (19th Overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry draft picked up two assists.

Other goals came from: Paul Bittner (2nd Round — 38th Overall, 2015); Daniel Zaar (6th Round — 152nd Overall, 2012) and Dante Salituro (free agent invite).

For the Wild, Brady Brassart, a Free Agent pickup from 2014 who played last season with the Iowa Wild picked up a couple of goals and Jack Walker, a ’96 from Edina, MN who played with Victoria of the WHL last season picked up a goal and assist.

Mike Reilly, the Chicago, IL native picked up as a Free Agent over the summer and Kurtis Gabriel, Selected in the Third Round (80th Overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, both had two assists and the other goals came from: Zack Mitchell, signed as a Free Agent in 2014 and Grayson Downing another Free Agent from this past summer.

Blues 2 Rangers 0

The Blues Prospects shrugged off its defeat from opening day and rallied back with a shutout against the Rangers prospects, thanks to a perfect 19-save effort from a young home-towner.

Luke Opilka, 18, from St. Louis was Selected by the team in the Fifth Round (145th Overall) this past summer and he has kept busy as one of the backstops at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament earlier this summer. He will return to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers this season and he is a prime contender to patrol the crease for Team USA at the World Junior Championship Tournament at Helsinki, Finland in December.

Because of Opilka’s work, a goal by C.K. Yakimowicz, Selected by the Blues in the Sixth Round (172nd Overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft just 5:51 into the game stood up as the game winner.

Colton Parayko, a Third Round (86th Overall) Selection of the Blues in the 2012 Entry Draft scored the other goal 2:13 into the third period and Liam Dunda, Selected in the Sixth Round (176th Overall) just this past summer, had an assist on both Blues’ goals.