WINNIPEG, Manitoba â As he takes the first steps of his NHL career, Nikita Alexandrov is learning every day and seeing stuff for the first time.
Such as goalie Jordan Binnington joining a scrum and egging on the Ball Arena crowd, on Saturday in Denver, to turn up the volume of their boos of him.
âI donât think Iâve ever seen that,â Alexandrov said, with the slightest of smiles. âIt got us energy and brought us energy. I love how dedicated he is and how competitive. It got us going. So I didnât mind sitting the two minutes.â
Alexandrov ended up serving Binningtonâs two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Of Russian descent, but born in Germany, Alexandrov is getting his feet wet in the NHL this season. After Robert Thomasâ lower-body injury Thursday in Arizona, Alexandrov was called up from the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.
It was his third callup of the season, and he has made a good impression on coach Craig Berube and his staff the previous two times.
âI think so,â Alexandrov said. âI mean getting called up like the third time, I think that they like me and they like how Iâm playing. Just gotta keep working on things individually.â
Alexandrov, 22, played in nine games and had an assist during a November callup with the Blues â who went 7-2 during those contests.
After Ryan OâReilly and Vladimir Tarasenko went down with injuries at the turn of the year, Alexandrov was promoted a second time â on Jan. 2 â and played in seven games. He had two goals and an assist in that stretch, in which the Blues went 4-3.
An upper-body injury sidelined him for the Ottawa and Nashville games, and just as he got healthy he was sent back to Springfield on Jan. 20. He was only there a week before his latest recall.
Before returning, he played in only one game for the Thunderbirds, scoring an overtime winner with an assist in a game at Grand Rapids.
âIt was good, obviously,â Alexandrov said. âThat was my first OT goal ever. Nice to get that one, but more importantly is that we got that win over there. It was a happy flight home.â
All told, Alexandrov has played 23 games this season in Springfield at nearly a point-per-game pace â 12 goals and eight assists. He had two goals and two assists in 17 games with the Blues entering Mondayâs contest with Winnipeg, then scored in the Bluesâ 4-2 loss.
âI think the biggest thing is the difference in minutes,â Alexandrov said. âObviously I play less up here than I play down there. So just kinda getting adjusted all the time, it can be challenging. But Iâm working through it and I think I do a good job of it.â
Alexandrov averaged 8:45 of ice time in his first 17 games with the Blues. Ice time stats arenât available for the AHL, but heâs undoubtedly playing twice that much for the T-birds â playing on a top line, as well as seeing power play and penalty-killing duty.
âI play only five-on-five here,â he said. âJust have to work as hard as I can every shift.â
Berube came into the NHL several seasons after Bobby Hull retired, but he spent some time with the hockey legend over the years. Hull, the father of Blues great Brett Hull, died at age 84, the Chicago Blackhawks announced Monday. He spent the vast majority of his stellar career with the âHawks.
âHe was someone you want to be around all the time,â Berube said. âJust a fun guy. Stories and great to talk to about things. Heâs just one of those guys, that when he walked into a room, everybody wanted to be around him. Just a lot of fun.â
In the span of a few days, the Blues have gone from the comfortable, sunny 60-degree weather in Phoenix to minus-20 degrees in Winnipeg. So who made up this schedule?
You might think that would be a shock to the system, but not for Blues forward Brayden Schenn.
âIt just feels like home, I guess,â he shrugged. âThis is like Saskatoon weather that you grew up around. Itâs exactly what we grew up in. And I played in Brandon, two hours down the road up until I was 18 or 19 years old.â
Schenn played three seasons of junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League before starting his pro career.