(1-24-21) Kings-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was another yeoman-like work night for the Blues' Justin Faulk and Marco Scandella on Saturday night in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings.

Both played over 20 minutes, with Faulk leading the way at 23:44 and Scandella not far behind at 21:12. They combined for six shots on goal (eight total), four hits and five blocked shots in the victory and have forged a partnership that's becoming quite reliable for the Blues behind Colton Parayko and Torey Krug.

Scandella, who spoke for the first time Sunday morning before the Blues (3-1-1) hosted the Kings (1-2-2) again on Sunday (7 p.m.; FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM), said it's been a great experience playing with Faulk and one that is quite similar to one he played in while with the Minnesota Wild.

"I feel like I played with a similar player in Jared Spurgeon when I played in Minnesota, so when I started playing with Faulker, I saw a lot of similarities between the two, and it just kind of brought me back to old times in Minnesota where that type of game of moving your feet, moving the puck quick, jumping in holes, lots of talk," Scandella said. "I feel like Faulker is really easy to read off of. I feel like I've been used to that game before.

"He's playing great right now. I feel like the confidence is coming and we're building that chemistry every day, I feel like we're getting better every game. I feel like we understand where each other are on the ice, we're helping each other out there, we're talking a lot now, we're moving the puck very well together. Just got to continue doing that and I feel like as a d-pairing, I feel like we're going to be really successful."

Blues coach Craig Berube has had no qualms of putting that pair on the ice late in games protecting a lead, as he did in the 5-4 win against San Jose last Monday and again on Saturday.

"They've been together for a little bit now. We had them together in the bubble too and they read off each other well," Berube said. "Scanny's a big guy and Faulker plays big; he's not overly big, but he plays big and they're just hard to play against. They get involved physically and they've got good sticks. They got good chemistry together and I think that's a big thing. When you've got good chemistry, you read off each other and you enjoy playing with each other, that's a big thing.

"(Faulk's) played tremendous hockey for us. ... He's a great team guy and he's playing real good hockey for us right now in a lot of situations. He's not an easy guy to play against out there, he makes good plays with the puck and he's got a good shot and he's shooting pucks. It's good to see."

Parayko is the Blues leader in time on ice heading into tonight's game (24:08), which puts him 23rd in the NHL, but Faulk's not far behind at 24:03, which is 25th in the league and more than three minutes of what he averaged in his first season with the Blues last year.

"I feel like he's playing with a lot of confidence and he's such a great skater," Scandella said. "When he's moving his feet like that, he can skate the puck out himself every time. He's making great reads and hopefully I'm allowing him to make those reads too. I just feel like the communication on the ice has been great so far."

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It was another night of killing penalties for the Blues, who were 4-for-5 on the night and the one blemish was a 5-on-3 Kings goal due to a too many men penalty in the second period that put the Blues down two skaters for 35 seconds. 

It's taxing some of their top-end guys, including Ryan O'Reilly, who has yet to score but has three assists, including two Saturday, in five games.

O'Reilly has averaged 3:09 per game on the penalty kill, including 5:24 on Saturday. It's also forcing other top-end guys like David Perron, Mike Hoffman, Vince Dunn, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou to sit on the bench for long stretches without allowing them to see the ice.

"Yeah, it's tough. It's tough to find a rhythm," O'Reilly said. "Not just myself but through the lineup when we take those penalties, it completely destroys any kind of rhythm, getting everyone going and getting engaged in that way. So it makes it kind of sporadic and we've got to exert a lot of energy out there. It does affect it that way. It's something we've talked about. We have to find a way to stay out of the box more and keep that because the strength of our team is depth and we've got to be able to use it and get everyone engaged. When we do that, that's when we play at our best.

"For sure I take a lot of pride in it. When I came into the league, that was my role. I enjoy it. You have to be smart, you have to have a good stick and make good reads and find a way to bait their players into making mistakes. The last two games has been better; obviously the 5-on-3 goal was a little frustrating, but it's important. It's got to be a good staple if we want to continue to win, we have to be good on the PK. On top of that too, we have to find a way to stay out of the box. We've taken a few too many penalties, but last few games have been pretty solid."

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Berube wouldn't disclose any potential lineup changes for tonight, including whether goalie Ville Husso will make his first NHL start.

Husso, a fourth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, did make his first NHL regular-season appearance in relief of Jordan Binnington Jan. 15 in the 8-0 loss at Colorado. He allowed four goals on 14 shots in the third period.

"I've been very impressed with 'Huus' the way he's been working," O'Reilly said. "This guy shows up, he's been here a lot, he's preparing, you can see he's getting better, he's putting in the work. For all the guys that were there in Colorado and he came in, we were horrible in front of him. I think we were kind of embarrassed. If he is in tonight, we want to be really good in front of him. We want to make it easy on him because he's obviously putting the work in and he's a great goaltender. It's on us. We have to be responsible that way and not feed any of their transition or or taking plays off that can make it easier for him in the net."

Berube said all lineup decisions will be made at game time.

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Speaking of Scandella, he said he's fine after getting crunched into the boards from behind by San Jose's Timo Meier that ultimately forced him to miss Wednesday's game with an upper-body injury.

"It was definitely a weird play," Scandella said. "I felt like it was a little bit of a dirty play, but that's hockey. It was a hockey play. I was a little bit angry, I was trying to get something started there. I'm feeling good right now and just moving forward one day at a time."

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In the rematch against LA, the Blues will likely see Jonathan Quick in goal after Cal Petersen made 26 saves on 29 shots.

The Blues outshot the Kings 30-23 in the game but LA held a decisive edge in shot attempts at 56-37.

"We're looking for quality over quantity," Berube said. "That's for sure. I think we can do a better job with denials and better sticks in certain situations to limit the Kings' attempts to keep it down a little bit, but from our side of things, we're looking more quality than quantity. 

"Overall, I thought we let them break the puck out too easily. We can do a better job of getting numbers in on the puck on our forecheck. It's not easy against that system they play, but we can do a better job of it."

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The Blues' projected lineup (will be determined during pregame warmups):

Zach Sanford-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Mike Hoffman-Robert Thomas-Tyler Bozak

Kyle Clifford-Ivan Barbashev-Oskar Sundqvist

Torey Krug-Colton Parayko

Marco Scandella-Justin Faulk

Vince Dunn-Carl Gunnarsson

Ville Husso could start in goal; Jordan Binnington would be the backup.

Healthy scratches could include Sammy Blais and Niko Mikkola. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) and Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) are out.

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The Kings' projected lineup (also to be determined during pregame warmups):

Alex Iafallo-Anze Kopitar-Adrian Kempe 

Andreas Athanasiou-Blake Lizotte-Jeff Carter

Lias Andersson-Gabriel Vilardi-Dustin Brown

Carl Grundstrom-Michael Amadio-Trevor Moore

Mikey Anderson-Drew Doughty

Kale Clague-Matt Roy

Kurtis MacDermid-Sean Walker

Jonathan Quick is expected to start; Calvin Petersen would be the backup.

Healthy scratches could include Olli Maatta and Austin Wagner. Matt Luff (undisclosed), Martin Frk (lower body) and Alex Turcotte (lower body) are out.