(2-6-21) Coyotes-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Mike Hoffman's ascension in the Blues lineup will take affect beginning with a third straight game against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.

The winger had his best game as a Blue on Thursday in a 4-3 loss to the Coyotes with two goals, nine shots (13 attempts) in a season-high 19:13 of ice time.

Hoffman, who has seven points (four goals, three assists) in 10 games this season, has a four-game point streak (three goals, two assists) and will be elevated to a line with Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron on Saturday when the Blues (7-3-1) and Coyotes (4-5-1) play a pair of games that were rescheduled for Saturday and Monday, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. The two games were originally scheduled for March 29 and 31.

"It's been 10 games. We definitely have a different team compared to the two other teams he's been on in his career," Perron said of Hoffman. "It will take some time for certain stuff and it's great when you have a couple bounces. I think it started with Anaheim, went of his skate and I think (Sammy Blais) scored and I said it was something to build off here for him and ever since, he's been playing good and scoring every game. Sometimes goal scorers, that's what you need, you need to get those bounces going the right way for you. I think certainly getting more familiar how we want to play, how coaches expect guys to play on this team. We have a chance to play with him tomorrow, so it's going to be exciting."

Thirteen of Hoffman's 28 shots on goal this season have come in the past two games and he's a plus-5.

"It takes time, a little bit of time," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "He's played over in the East for quite some time and it's his first time over in the West and it's different hockey over here and different systems for sure, but he's starting to really play well I think. I know he got a couple goals late in the game last game, but he's shooting the puck, which is good. He's getting his looks. I think he's playing our system pretty well."

O'Reilly will take a six-game point streak (three goals, five assists) into the game, and Perron has 10 points (four goals, six assists) his past seven games, so that line should be ready to roll.

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Forwards Zach Sanford and Sammy Blais, as well as Tyler Bozak (upper body injury), along with defensemen Colton Parayko and Marco Scandella (upper body) did not practice on Friday with the full group and Berube shed some light on their absences.

Parayko will play today, but Sanford is out with the flu, and a decision on Blais will be made after the warmup.

Scandella remains out and is day-to-day and the Blues put Bozak on injured reserve today and called up forward Mackenzie MacEachern and defenseman Jake Walman from the taxi squad, and a decision on Blais will be made after the pregame warmup.

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As the Blues embark on an ever-changing schedule, they just go about things day by day.
They were supposed to host the Colorado Avalanche in back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday but those were postponed due to Colorado's COVID-19 outbreak, and then the Blues were to begin a four-game road trip to Minnesota Tuesday and Thursday before going to Arizona for games Feb. 13 and 15.

But the first Minnesota game has already been postponed because of the Wild's Covid outbreak and should Thursday's game also get postponed, it will be six straight games against the Coyotes for the Blues.

It will be six straight games for Arizona against St. Louis because the the Coyotes were to play at Colorado Tuesday and Thursday, but those have already been postponed to a later date.
"I think with the situation around the league, we're just happy to be playing at this point," Perron said. "You want to keep playing, you want to keep taking care of yourself, as a group away from the rink, and hoping that this virus stays out of our locker room and other teams' locker room. There's coaches and staff around you and everyone's got to help out. We have done a good job here so far and we've had some luck as well and we hope it keeps going."

"As of right now, six of our (next) seven are going to be against the 'Yotes," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "We've got to find a way to be more consistent, harder to play against and establish the identity of our team. You have to when you're playing them in back-to-back situations or in this case, four games straight."

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Oh, those bad starts.

It was a sore spot for the Blues once again Thursday, as it was Tuesday, but they got away with it in a 4-3 win over Arizona but not this time.

They fell behind 2-0 in the first period, 3-0 after two before making it interesting in the waning seconds with three sixth-attacker goals in the final four minutes.

"It's being ready to play and simplifying your game, build your game," Schenn said. "I don't think you have to be fancy early on. Maybe if the opportunity's there, you take it, but I think if you look at the game from last night, we turned the puck over numerous amounts of times in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the game. That's not winning hockey. It gives teams opportunities and with opportunities, players can establish confidence that maybe it's going to be a little bit easier night than expected. For us, we've got to worry about taking care of the puck, being hard to play against and that's kind of the identity of this organization and Blues hockey and we've got to get back to that.

"I don't think concern's the word. I think we're well aware of it. As us players, we have to go out and find a way to change that. This isn't winning hockey if you think you can put it together for a period or two or a game or two and then let your foot off the gas and become a completely different hockey team the next game. We have to get back to the basics. We know what winning hockey is around here and that's a defense-first mentality and hard to play against, competing at both ends of the ice. Until we get that in the back of our minds and establish that's how you win hockey games, I think that's what we have to focus on."

What the Blues haven't managed to do is get to their forechecking style often enough. 

"We do have more speed in certain guys," Perron said. "Let's say like Jordan (Kyrou) in particular. He wasn't there last year. He's done a great job at providing speed and working, scoring on those 2-on-1 plays, plays that you don't expect, and that's going to keep coming because he's reading the play well. But it's going to have to be a mentality of we can't lose our team identity and I think we just grab way better control of the game that way when we play the other way more, and I think it shows in the result yesterday. We ended up putting a lot of pucks on net, scoring some goals, but you can't just expect to score those easier goals. It's not Jordan at all, it's a team mentality and Jordan's played some great hockey."

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The Blues could really benefit from Robert Thomas getting going.

Thomas, who has five assists on the season, has just four shots on goal in 11 games and 12 attempts (seven missing the net).

"He's going to get better boys," Berube said. "He's having a tough stretch right now and he's got to work his way out of it. You've got to control a couple things: how hard you're working and how hard you compete. You can control those things. First and foremost, he's he's got to make sure he's outworking his opponent and outcompeting his opponent and the second thing is get in on the inside a little more to get some more shots. He definitely needs to have a shooting mentality a little bit more than he does. I know he's a passer, but he does have to have a shooting mentality too."

Could his confidence be shaken?

"For sure," Berube said. "Your confidence will go after a while. I think that he's lost some confidence, so he's got to work to get it back."

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The Blues' projected lineup (will be verified after pregame warmups):

Mike Hoffman-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Ivan Barbashev-Robert Thomas-Oskar Sundqvist

Kyle Clifford-Sammy Blais-Mackenzie MacEachern

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Vince Dunn-Colton Parayko

Carl Gunnarsson-Niko Mikkola

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

Healthy scratches include Jake Walman. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) and Marco Scandella (upper body) are out. Zach Sanford (flu) is out.

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The Coyotes' projected lineup:

Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Conor Garland

Drake Caggiula-Christian Dvorak-Tyler Pitlick

Derick Brassard-Barrett Hayton-Phil Kessel

Michael Chaput-Johan Larsson-John Hayden

Jakob Chychrun-Ilya Lyubushkin

Alex Goligoski-Niklas Hjalmarsson

Jordan Oesterle-Jason Demers

Darcy Kuemper will start in goal; Antti Raanta will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Adin Hill. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (lower body), Lawson Crouse (undisclosed), Christian Fischer (undisclosed) and Dryden Hunt (lower body) are out.