(4-19-14) Blackhawks-Blues Game 2 Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues will look to go up two games on the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks today (2 p.m. on NBC, KMOX 1120-AM).

And as far as a lineup change for the Blues today, coach Ken Hitchcock would not disclose whether T.J. Oshie would be in the lineup for Game 2.

"No," Hitchcock said when asked if he would tell the media. "We'll see.

"They're all going to get in by Game 4 hopefully."

But Oshie took the ice before pregame warmups and will be in the lineup today after missing the past three games with an upper-body injury. He will take the place of Brenden Morrow in the lineup. Morrow was not on the ice. He is out of the lineup and likely related to the foot injury he recently sustained.

With a healthy Oshie, the Blues add another two-way dynamic to their lineup.

But Hitchcock said to expect a lot today, especially early.

"I would say the order of the day would be chaos," he said. "We'll just prepare to play in the chaos. Both teams know what's at stake. They play a certain way that has a lot of success, we play a certain way that has success. For us to be effective, we've go to create our own offense, our own way, which we did. And they create in a different manner and they created a lot, too. For a 4-3 game, there was a ton of scoring chances. I'm sure they're looking at what we did to negate it, and we certainly are looking at what they did in trying to stop some of the stuff. We need to be less surprised by numbers behind us. If we can do that, then we can negate some of the easy ones we gave up because they're such a good team at 50-50's where if you think you're on offense, next thing you know, there's a guy standing behind you on a breakaway."

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is wary of the Blues as a whole.

"I think they've got a few guys up front that they definitely have some skill," Quenneville said. "We've got to be aware of who's on the ice."

The Blues' probable lineup:

Alexander Steen-David Backes-T.J. Oshie

Jaden Schwartz-Vladimir Sobotka-Vladimir Tarasenko

Steve Ott-Derek Roy-Ryan Reaves

Chris Porter-Maxim Lapierre-Adam Cracknell

Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo

Barret Jackman-Kevin Shattenkirk

Jordan Leopold-Roman Polak

Ryan Miller will start in goal; Brian Elliott will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian Cole and Magnus Paajarvi. Patrik Berglund (upper body) is out with injury as is Brenden Morrow (foot).

- - -

The Blackhawks' probable lineup:

Kris Versteeg-Jonathan Toews-Brandon Saad

Patrick Sharp-Michal Handzus-Marian Hossa

Bryan Bickell-Andrew Shaw-Patrick Kane

Brandon Bollig-Marcus Kruger-Ben Smith

Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook

Johnny Oduya-Niklas Hjalmarsson

Nick Leddy-Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford will start in goal; Antti Raanta will bethe backup.

Healthy scratches include Jeremy Morin, Peter Regin, Sheldon Brookbank,Joakim Nordstrom, David Rundblad and Mac Carruth. The Blackhawks report no injuries.