Four Blues prospects won medals at the World Junior Championship, including Jimmy Snuggerud’s gold medal with the United States.
Snuggerud earned gold as the U.S. beat Sweden 6-2 in the final of the World Juniors on Friday night, meaning Otto Stenberg and Theo Lindstein settled for silver medals. Jakub Stancl won a bronze medal with Czechia as it beat Finland (and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki) 8-5 in the third-place game.
Dalibor Dvorksy and Juraj Pekarcik (Slovakia) were eliminated in the quarterfinals and did not reach the medal round.
Here were the final tallies for the seven Blues prospects, which was tied for the most from any organization:
Stenberg: five goals, four assists
Snuggerud: five goals, three assists
Lindstein: two goals, six assists
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Stancl: four goals, two assists
Dvorsky: three goals, three assists
Kaskimaki: two goals, two assists
Pekarcik: one goal, two assists
The 44 total points were the most by any one NHL team at the World Juniors this year.
Lindstein led all defensemen with eight points in the tournament, and was named by media to the World Juniors All-Star team. Stenberg had at least one point in all seven games he played, including a goal in the gold medal game against the United States. Snuggerud finished his World Juniors career with 10 goals for the U.S., which is tied for fifth-most all-time in American history.
Next year, five of these prospects (Stenberg, Lindstein, Stancl, Dvorsky and Pekarcik) are eligible to return to the Under-20 tournament.
Faulk not on trip, could skate
Blues defenseman Justin Faulk did not travel with the team Friday to Carolina, but it’s possible that he is able to skate on his own while the Blues are on the road, interim coach Drew Bannister said.
“I think there could be an option for him to skate here either (Saturday) or the day after, which are our days off (from practice), and then we’ll see how he feels there if he practices with us on Monday leading into Tuesday,†Bannister said.
Faulk will miss his third game Saturday — this one against his former team, the Hurricanes — due to a lower-body injury suffered in a loss to Colorado on Dec. 29. In the final minute of the game against the Avalanche, Faulk fell awkwardly with his left leg caught under him.
He has not skated with the team since the injury, and is considered “day-to-day†by Bannister.
Blais out again?
As Jakub Vrana is set to make his return to the Blues lineup Saturday in Carolina, that means Sammy Blais is likely to be a healthy scratch against the Hurricanes. Blais skated as an extra forward during practice on Friday.
“I don’t think he’s done anything necessarily wrong to be out of the lineup,†Bannister said. “I think there’s still a lot more there. Where he’s playing right now, he’s done a pretty good job of playing a direct game. I like some of the forechecking shifts that that group had yesterday. I thought they gave us energy. But there’s still things in his game where he’s got to be around the net a little bit more.â€
Blais has just one goal and six assists this season in 31 games. Saturday could be his seventh scratch of the season after playing in each of the last six games.
The Blues will not hold a morning skate on Saturday since NC State is hosting a men’s basketball game at PNC Arena against Virginia at 2 p.m. ET before the Blues-Hurricanes game at 8 p.m. ET.