Thursday Night Fun

Jesse Graham (OHL Images)

Thursday night prospect action was a pretty good night for the 3 New York Islander and 1 New York Ranger prospect who got to see action. All 4 had good games for the most part and if efforts like we got to see Thursday evening are the pattern for the season then the middle to lower round picks are looking like bargains.

Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) had a 1-2-3 +4 evening while earning the game's 3rd star as Graham's Niagara IceDogs defeated the Ottawa 67's 7-4. Graham had 2 secondary assists and his 3rd goal of the season was Niagara's 7th of the game.

The 3 points extended Graham's scoring streak to a career best 7 straight games (2-7-9) as the captain of the IceDogs has really stepped up his game since being named captain.

Ryan Graves (NYR 2013 4th) also earned a "3rd star of the game" as Graves and his Charlottetown Islanders defeated the Val-d'Or Foreurs 7-1. Graves had the secondary assist on the Islander's 2nd goal of the game which proved also to be the game winner. For Graves a 0-1-1, +1 on 3 shots and 2 hits doesn't tell the full story of Graves' play.

The Foreurs had a 49-31 edge in shots but Graves was part of a Islander blueline that held the Foreurs to just 1 goal and a 0 for 3 on the power play. Graves with the assist is 0-3-3 on the season as his Islanders moved back into 2nd place in the QMJHL with a 9-2-0-1 record.

Victor Crus-Rydberg (NYI 2013 5th) had the secondary assist on his Plymouth Whaler's 1st goal of the game but the Whalers had to rally to earn a 3-2 overtime win over the North Bay Battalion. For Crus-Rydberg it was his 5th assist and 7th overall point since joining the Whalers.

Loic Leduc (NYI 2012 4th) had a pretty good game going, Leduc had the secondary assist on his Cape Breton Screaming Eagle's 1st goal of the game. However Leduc took a costly holding penalty that the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies cashed in for their only power play goal of the game as the Huskies defeated the Screaming Eagles 7-4.

Leduc in addition to his assist was a +3 on 2 shots but that is the way the game goes as the power play goal that the Huskies' scored was their 5th goal of the game and that one proved to be the game winner.