(2-20-21) Sharks-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- When the Blues (10-5-2) line up for their fourth and final home game against the San Jose Sharks (6-7-2) today at 6 p.m. (FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM), they'll do so with a makeshift lineup.

Now that Ivan Barbashev (ankle) has been added to the growing injury list, it puts more emphasis on the top players to perform and produce.

Or does it?

"The big guys in the lineup for sure, I think we have to be the difference," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "We have to create, we have to put the puck in the net and find a way to out-perform the team that we're playing. It's definitely a difficult challenge, but your best players got to be your best players in order to win and that's the way it is. It's a good challenge. Guys that we have coming into the lineup bring a lot of energy and it's something we have to feed off of and find a way to have success."

Barbashev joins Robert Thomas (thumb), Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Colton Parayko (undisclosed) and Jaden Schwartz (lower body) sitting out for the time being, although Tarasenko was on the ice again Saturday morning for a limited optional getting his prep work on towards a potential return in the not-too-distant future.

"It's tough for him and tough for us," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Barbashev. "We lose another guy for a significant amount of time playing well, but I guess move on. We've got to move on from it."

And the Blues will, with Austin Poganski, Mackenzie MacEachern and Jacob de la Rose, guys on the taxi squad not too long ago, looking to keep the Blues afloat and needing to make an impact, which is why Berube doesn't necessarily think the top players have to carry all the weight.

"I don't do that. I rely on everybody," Berube said. "Everybody that's going to play tonight is going to do the job. That's the way you look at it. It's a team, you lose players, things happen, but you still have got to be a team out there and you've got to rely on everybody."

It doesn't minimize the loss of Barbashev, who like Thomas was gaining traction and playing well at the time of injury. Barbashev was making his mark with O'Reilly and David Perron.

"It's unfortunate. I thought Barbs, myself and DP were playing very well," O'Reilly said. "Barbs was making stuff happen. He was playing great, making great plays, doing all the right things. Unfortunate that the injury happens to him, which is tough, but we've got (Jordan) Kyrou there tonight. He's dynamic with his speed. I think for someone like myself, who's not a great skater with DP, we're not the fastest guys. It's nice to have someone like that that if we find him, he's going to be gone and creating. We can get some good jump there and still be heavy in the right ways. But with him, we should be able to create some good offense I think."

Players always talk about simplifying the game, even when the lineup is stacked full. Now that it's been impacted, that simplification is more crucial than ever.

"It's more important than ever," defenseman Torey Krug said. "I think sometimes the tendency when some players are out, especially key players, other guys step up and try to do too much, but I think it's more important than ever to try and simplify the game and allow each other and know what we're going to do with the puck when we get it. Obviously on the defensive side, willing to compete and outwork the opposition. That's key, especially with all these injuries out. We've just got to let each other know that we have each other's backs.

"Playing in Boston for so many years and being here, it's a couple teams that play so hard and they're so competitive that at the end of the day, injuries, they just do add up and they pile up. It's a next man up mentality. Two similar groups in that regard, but yeah, I've been through it before and hopefully we can get out of it quicker here."

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Speaking of Kyrou, he will get his shot now with O'Reilly and Perron.

It's quite the jump for the 2016 second-round pick that was on the fringe of making the opening night roster, to having a solid training camp and starting as a third-line winger, to moving up and playing with Schwartz, Brayden Schenn and Mike Hoffman to now getting a shot here.

"He's played well," Berube said of Kyrou, who is tied for second on the team with 14 points (six goals, eight assists). "He's had a good start to the season. He's a very highly-skilled player, does a lot of good things with the puck. Just trying to put lines together with a little bit of depth and spread it out a little bit."

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Parayko's injury is a mystery publicly, but for the Blues, having him sit now is for the best to get him right because he clearly wasn't himself to start the season.

He was obviously playing through something that was altering his ability to play the game at a top-notch level.

"He's a freak of nature too, so he's got the ability to overcome a lot of things and still have a very positive impact on a game for us," Krug said. "To see him battle on a nightly and daily basis, it's important for the team to respect that, and hopefully he can get better soon so that we can get his presence back on the blue line. He's a very important player for us."

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Nathan Walker, called up from Utica of the American Hockey League to join the taxi squad, which at the moment of empty of forwards, is in St. Louis but will need to quarantine for the time being before being able to join players on the ice.

"I'm not sure how long, how long that is, but he is here," Berube said.

Walker had a cup of coffee with the Blues last season when injuries mounted, and he had a goal and an assist in five games.

"He brings energy," Berube said of Walker. "He's a real worker, competitive guy. He can skate. Actually down in the American League, he scores a lot, he's an offensive player, but up here, I think his role changes a little bit. He's going to be an energy guy up here, worker, penalty killer but has the ability to score."

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* LATE UPDATE -- The Blues had a late afternoon update to their lineup, as Sammy Blais became the first player to miss time due to the COVID-19 protocols.

Blais was a full participant in practice Friday after returning from an upper-body injury to play against the Sharks on Thursday.

Jake Walman was called up from the taxi squad to replace Blais in the lineup Saturday.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Jordan Kyrou-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Zach Sanford-Brayden Schenn-Mike Hoffman 

Kyle Clifford-Oskar Sundqvist-Mackenzie MacEachern 

Jake Walman-Jacob de la Rose-Austin Poganski

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Carl Gunnarsson

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

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

The Blues report no healthy scratches. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Colton Parayko (undisclosed), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Robert Thomas (thumb) and Ivan Barbashev (ankle) are all out. Sammy Blais became the first player added to the COVID-19 protocol list and is 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

John Leonard-Dylan Gambrell-Stefan Noesen

Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns

Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Nicolas Meloche  

Fredrik Claesson-Nikolai Knyzhov

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