Blues recall AHL leading scorer Perunovich

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The St. Louis Blues have recalled defenseman Scott Perunovich from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Perunovich, 23, made his pro debut with Springfield on Oct. 16 and has recorded a point in each of his first 12 contests this season, leading the AHL in assists (18), points (20, tied) and power-play assists (10).

His 12-game scoring streak is the longest by an AHL rookie since Josh Norris had a 13-game streak for Belleville in 2019-20, and the longest by an AHL defenseman since Ryan Murphy recorded points in 12 consecutive games for Charlotte in 2013-14.

Perunovich was the AHL Player of the Week for the week ending Oct. 24 after posting six points in three games.

A native of Hibbing, Minn., Perunovich was a second-round pick by St. Louis in the 2018 NHL Draft and signed with the Blues after three seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2017-18 and 2018-19 before earning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top collegiate player in 2019-20.

He missed the entire 2020-21 season due to injury.