Jackets take close Lindsay Division despite defeat

Round robin games wrapped up at the Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament on Monday (Sept. 14) and the Ted Lindsay Division couldn’t have seen a closer finish.

After back to back defeats, the New York Rangers Prospects shutout the previously undefeated Columbus Blue Jackets Prospects 4-0 while a battle of 1-1 teams saw the St. Louis Blues whipping the Minnesota Wild 7-1.

As a result, the Blues and Blue Jackets both finished at 2-1, the Jackets earning top spot in the tiebreaking method to earn a shot at its second tournament championship the following day while the Blues will play for third place.

The Wild Prospects and Rangers Prospects both finished at 1-2 but the Wild got the nod for third place overall in the pool. As a result, the Wild will play for Fifth place and the Rangers will be in the Seventh Place tussle.

Rangers 4 Blue Jackets 0

Things got turned upside down in a battle of first and last heading into the final day as the Rangers pulled off the upset with one goal in each period and the final one into an empty net with under two minutes to go.

Adam Tambellini, Petr Zamorsky, Calle Anderssson and Hayden Hodgson scored for the Rangers and Joonas Korpisalo, a Third Round (62nd Overall) Selection by the Blue Jackets in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, stopped 22 of 25 in the Blue Jackets’ goal.

Jacob Smith made 38 saves to earn the shutout for the Rangers

Blues 7 Wild 1

After dropping its opener against the Blue Jackets the Blues wrapped up round robin play with back to back wins and allowed just one goal against.

The Blues scored the lone goal of the first period and opened up a 4-1 cushion in the middle frame before adding three more unanswered markers in the final session.

Zach Pochiro, a Fourth Round (112th Overall) Selection in the 2013 NHL Draft by the Blues, led the way offensively with a goal and three assists and Bobby Fabbri, a First Round (21st Overall) Selection in 2014 by the Blues added a goal and two assists.

Jordan Schmaltz, another First Rounder (25th Overall) in 2012 and Colton Parayko, a Third Round (86th Overall) Pick from the same year, each picked up a goal and assist with other goals for: Ivan Barbashev, a Second Round (33rd Overall) Selection in 2014; Samuel Blais, Selected in the Sixth Round (176th Overall) in 2014 and  Glenn Gawdin, Selected in the Fourth Round (116th Overall) just this past summer.

Niklas Lundstrom, a Fifth Round (132nd Overall) Selection of the Blues in 2011 picked up the win in goal, stopping 27 of 28 shots by the Wild.

Reid Duke, a Sixth round (169th Overall) Selection in the 2014 Entry Draft by the Wild, had his team’s lone goal and Brody Hoffman, a free agent pick up from earlier this summer stopped 34 of 41 shots against him.