(1-13-22) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Blues have been down this road before, not as many high-profiled players 

missing at once though; Neal, Walker appear set to return against Kraken

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was a pretty subdued practice for the Blues on Wednesday.

It's not exactly the mood one feels when it's winning with regularity, particularly on home ice, where the Blues (21-10-5) are 11-0-1 their past 12 at Enterprise Center and when they'll continue their five-game homestand on Thursday against the expansion Seattle Kraken, who were playing the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

But the Blues, who have dealt with adversity all season whether through players in COVID-19 protocol or through injury, are probably going through their toughest stretch as far as player personnel is concerned with five guys remaining in protocol after Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko went on Monday and David Perron joining them on Tuesday. Vladimir Tarasenko and Scott Perunovich were eligible to come off but were not on the ice for practice, which means they still haven't received the necessary negative tests for consecutive days and remain in protocol and puts their availability against the Kraken in doubt.

Tarasenko, Schenn and Perron is like losing an entire top-six line, and Parayko and Perunovich are mainstays on the blue line that need to be replaced, so for it to happen at once, this one will really test the Blues' mettle moving forward.

"It's just another challenge for us and I think we've done a good job of battling adversity all year," forward Brandon Saad said. "It seems any time we get over the hump, something else happens. It's just another part of it, but I think playing a good team game when you lose really good players, you block it out and play a good team game kind of helps everyone have success. That's what we're looking to do.

"It seems like that's how it's been all year, not only for us, but every time you play another team, it seems like someone's missing guys in some kind of direction. It's kind of how the year's been, next-man-up mentality. We've done a good job so far and we're looking to continue to do that."

The Blues have done a good job -- no, they've done a great job -- at overcoming losses of player personnel all throughout the season, whether it be through the reserves they have on hand here or reinforcements from Springfield of the American Hockey League. 

"It's tough, some real good players that obviously are out right now," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Like I said (before), next guy steps in and does the job. We've got to rely on our depth that we have in the organization and that's what we have to do."

"I think we're a team with a lot of depth, not only with the group we have here, but the guys that we can bring in when we have to," forward Tyler Bozak said. "I think that's a strong suit of our team is the depth we have and guys being able to fill in and play in different roles and different parts of the lineup.

"It's one of those things we have to deal with. Every team's dealing with it. It seems like it kind of comes in waves where you have obviously it's inevitable. Once you get one, there's going to be someone that follows with how much time we spend together and the close proximity we're in. It's one of those things everyone deals with and we've done a good job of dealing with it so far. We've got some big shoes to fill here. Luckily the period of time they're out is usually less now and we'll get them back sooner rather than later. While they are out, we're going to all have to step up and play better."

Regarding Tarasenko, Berube didn't rule out one of his top offensive weapons but without skating Wednesday, it's unlikely he'll suit up Thursday without at least a morning skate. But most importantly, he'll need consecutive negative tests.

"I guess there's always hope," Berube said. "I can't really answer that question to be honest with you."

* Different look at practice -- With five regulars out of the lineup, Berube and the coaching staff had lines and defensive pairings as follows:

Barbashev-O'Reilly-Buchnevich

Saad-Thomas-Kyrou

Brown-Sundqvist-Neal

Walker-Bozak-Kostin

Mikkola-Faulk

Scandella-Krug

Rosen-Bortuzzo

Walman

Binnington

Husso

James Neal, the forgotten veteran on the taxi squad who last played a game Nov. 22 and spent a good portion of the past two months on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury, looks set to be called up to the active roster and play on the third line with Logan Brown and Oskar Sundqvist.

"He's been working hard, he's a good pro that's been around and keeps himself in good shape. He's practiced hard so he should be ready to go," Berube said of Neal, who has two goals and two assists in 17 games this season. "He's a pretty positive guy in general and I think his attitude, he's always in a good mood, he's always talking, he's got a lot of energy. He understands the situation totally when he came here. He's accepted the situation and understands it. Now he's waiting for his opportunity. He'll try to perform at his best with his opportunity and see where it goes. When you understand the situation you're in, you accept it and you wait and you're going to wait your turn at times. There's no reason to be upset or mad every day. He's been great, he's been positive. He's done a great job with the players and young guys. He talks to these guys all the time and helps them out. This guy's been around a long time, he's played a lot of hockey and he's scored a lot of goals."

Not only does it look like Neal will play against the Kraken, he was on the second power-play unit.

"Any time you get time away from the game like that, it's tough to hop right back into it, but he's a great player," Saad said. "He's been around a long time. He knows how to score goals. I'm happy. I think it's going to be a lot of fun having him on the same unit on the power play trying to create and score goals. You don't forget how to do that. He's been doing it for a long time. We're happy to have him out there."

As for Saad, it's his turn to take a spin on a line with the dynamic duo of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, a fit Berube thinks is good because Saad, who has 12 goals and four assists in 32 games, can do a multitude of things that can make that duo go.

"I don't think every guy that plays with them fits the perfect mold, but I think the way I look at it, you need a guy that can perform off the rush with them, somebody that has some speed and ability to make plays," Berube said. "On the other side of it, it's nice to have a guy that gets to the net front, drives the net for them, forechecks hard, gets loose pucks for them, things like that. With 'Vladi' playing with them, that's a different look than Saad or a different look than maybe Brayden Schenn. When 'Vladi's there, that's a good rush line. They really make plays off the rush and do a good job there. With Saad there, he drives hard, has got good speed, he is a good rush player, he is a good forechecker that can get to the net for these guys. We'll see how it plays out."

Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich and most recently Schenn, have all their spots playing with the talented pair of Thomas and Kyrou, but Saad said he will stick to what he does best in order to make it work.

"I think just sticking to my game, protect the pucks, being around the net," Saad said. "That's something where you always have to be ready for passes around the net. Those two guys are incredible with using their speed and skill at making plays. I think I'll expect that puck with a pass because they're going to find you out there, so I'm going to be really excited to hook up with them.

"I think you never want to change too much. Everyone brings something to the table. Playing with those guys is a great opportunity to play with speed and skill and playing some offense. It's going to be fun. They create a lot of plays out there. They've been fun to watch from playing on a different line. They've been having a lot of success, it's going to be fun to get a chance to play with them."

Berube also had Torey Krug and Justin Faulk split up, for reasons he didn't want to have to do, but with Parayko out and away from his regular partner, Niko Mikkola, it was necessary to balance the back unit up.

"It's a tough decision for sure," Berube said. "I'm sure they're going to get to play together too in the game. We'll just play it by ear right now. But the way we have it set up, we've got a puck mover on every pair right now with a bigger guy. That's the way we'll start it right now. We'll see how it plays out."

Nathan Walker has been one of the call-ups and surprises that's filled in nicely when players were missing and he'll get the call again off the taxi squad. Walker, who scored a hat trick in his first game this season against the Detroit Red Wings, gets the call over Dakota Joshua.

"'Dak' hadn't played in a while, came off COVID, hadn't played in a while," Berube said. "It was important for him to go down and get some games and get up to speed. That was the mindset there. He's going to do that and Walker's been playing, so that's the reason we went that way."

As for Walman, he was the extra defenseman in practice on Wednesday, and should be not be ready to jump in against Seattle, taxi squader Calle Rosen, who was partnered with Robert Bortuzzo, will get into game action again.

"He came off the list today and practiced with us," Berube said of Walman. "We've got to have to see how he did today, will have to talk to him, talk to the trainer, see where he's at and if he's ready to play or not."