(2-18-21) Sharks-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Apparently what's ailing defenseman Colton Parayko will need at least one game to recover.

Perhaps more.

Blues coach Craig Berube said Parayko will not play today when the Blues (9-5-2) open a four-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks (6-7-1) at 7 p.m. (FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Parayko has been dealing with an undisclosed injury for much of the season and has played through it, and it's been evident in certain games that his ice time is down.
Parayko has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 16 games this season and played a season-low 15:38 against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.

"We need to get him better, so we decided that he will not go tonight," Berube said. "This did not happen in the bubble (last season). It happened this season."

The Blues do benefit from the addition of defenseman Marco Scandella, who missed the past six games (seven overall this season) with an upper-body injury.

"It's been a couple weeks, just excited to get back with the boys, get back in the game and it's going to be dun playing at home too," Scandella said. "I was a little bit banged up. I don't want to get in to the details, the specific details of the injury, but just a little bit banged up. I feel good, happy to get back in the lineup."

Also, defenseman Torey Krug will play after sitting out the third period Monday against the Coyotes with an upper-body injury.

Forward Sammy Blais, who's been dealing with an upper-body injury of his own, will be a game-time decision after skating the past couple days, including Thursday. (*UPDATE -- Blais is in the lineup).

Forward Jaden Schwartz will miss a second game with a lower-body injury.

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It was a heavily populated optional morning skate Thursday, but to see Vladimir Tarasenko back on the ice with his teammates has to be uplifting to the rest of the squad.

"He's one of our leaders and he's been in this club for a long time," center Oskar Sundqvist said of Tarasenko. "He's a really funny guy to be around, so it's nice to see him again around the team and being able to practice with us and being in the locker room. It's awesome to see."

Tarasenko, who accompanied the team on its three-game trip to Arizona and skated with them out there, is coming off a third surgery on his left shoulder that had him on a reevaluation timetable of five months from the time of the Sept. 17 surgery. 

"It's great, he's got a smile on his face from ear to ear," Scandella said. "He hasn't played in a long time consistently. We're all excited for him to get back. He looks really good in practice. I was actually skating with him a few times and just seeing him shoot the puck again a few times, I was like, 'This guy can absolutely fire it.'"

It's still hard to determine when Tarasenko, who was injured Oct. 24, 2019 against Los Angeles, will be able to ramp up his on-ice work, but it's obviously going in the right direction.

"He's not going to practice with the full squad," Berube said. "It's an optional skate today, so we like to get him out when we have optionals and be around some of the guys. He can get a little bit more work that way."
 
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The Blues' projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Mike Hoffman-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Zach Sanford-Oskar Sundqvist-Sammy Blais

Kyle Clifford-Jacob de la Rose-Mackenzie MacEachern 

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Carl Gunnarsson-Marco Scandella

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup. The healthy scratch is Austin Poganski. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Colton Parayko (undisclosed), Tyler Bozak (upper body) and Robert Thomas (thumb) are out.

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The Sharks' projected lineup:

Evander Kane-Logan Couture-Kevin Labanc

Rudolfs Balcers-Tomas Hertl-Timo Meier

Matt Nieto-Patrick Marleau-Ryan Donato

Noah Gregor-John Leonard-Dylan Gambrell

Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns

Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Nicolas Meloche  

Fredrik Claesson-Nikolai Knyzhov

Martin Jones will start in goal; Devan Dubnyk will be the backup. Marcus Sorensen, Stefan Noesen and Jacob Middleton are the healthy scratches. Erik Karlsson (lower body) and Radim Simek (upper body) are out.