(1-9-22) Stars-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues will be playing the second game of a five-game homestand against the Dallas Stars on Sunday at 1 p.m. (BSMW, NHL Network, ESPN 101.1-FM) and trying to extend their hot home hand.

The Blues (20-10-5) want to make their home a house of horrors for the opposition.

The Blues, after a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals here on Friday, are 10-0-1 their past 11 home games and looking to extend that point streak to 12 games. Their last 12-game home point streak was Jan. 6-Feb. 26, 2001 when the Blues went 9-0-3 and would match the third-longest in franchise history.

They've earned points at home this season since Nov. 18.

"It should always be tough to play in your own arena for other teams," defenseman Justin Faulk said. "You don't want teams coming in here thinking it's going to be an easy game. 

"I'm not going to lie, there probably are some teams in the league that don't get teams shaking in their boots when they walk into their building. You don't want to have that. We've been playing well, but obviously the start (Friday) night wasn't very good at all and we found a way to win, and that's also key. Being consistent at home, you play a lot of games here, so you better be comfortable playing in your rink and doing a good job of it. I don't think we actually had it all that dialed in at the beginning of the year, but we're doing a pretty good job of it now."

It was a point of emphasis for the Blues going into the season after being 21st in home record last season (12-11-5).

"It was a discussion before the season started out," defenseman Torey Krug said. "That was one of our goals. Obviously last year wasn’t exactly where we needed to be at home. Our play wasn’t strong; it was an easy building to play in. But then coming back, playing in a full building this is a very tough place for opposing teams. I was on the other side for a number of years. We talked about it as an opposing team. I think we’ve re-established that and our fans being back in the building is a very big part of that.

"So at the beginning of the year that was a goal of ours to come in here and make it a hard place to play, and we’ve accomplished that so far."

In the Blues' defense, playing in front of none-to-limited fans wasn't exactly ideal. Sure, it was nice to have some fans in the building, but they feel like when this building is full to capacity (18,096), it fuels their game.

"Obviously you miss it a lot. It's a huge difference," forward Oskar Sundqvist said. "I've talked to a few guys about it last year too, without fans, it's hard to get energy and to get going, you need them to boost you up a little bit and get you going. Since I've been here, we've always had great fans here. We feed a lot (off) our fans. It's making a big difference for us in our games.

"Last season, it wasn't good enough obviously. We weren't good at all. Definitely something we talked about during preseason and before the season started that we want to be much better at home. We want to be a hard team to play against. Just getting fans back there is huge for us. They're helping us and giving us energy. It's been a big boost for us."

The Blues are 13-3-2 at Scottrade Center this season and didn't get off to a great start here, but in the past 11 games, they've outscored the opposition 47-22, averaging 4.27 goals per game

"Well, I think we score quite a bit here at home," coach Craig Berube said. "I think that’s the No. 1 thing that sticks out in my mind. We find ways to score goals, whether it’s the power play, 5-on-5 (Friday). I think we find ways to score goals at home.

"... I think last year, it took awhile. We got better as it went along. We’ve been a good home team before last year for quite some time. We talked about it after the season last year and then throughout the summer, make it a focal point of being a good team at home, a hard team to play against at home, and so far our guys have done a good job."

After Sunday's game, the Blues have games against Seattle (Thursday), Toronto (Jan. 15) and Nashville (Jan. 17) to close out the homestand and keep the train rolling.

"Obviously we have to take advantage of it and use it to our strength with the home ice and with the fans behind us," Sundqvist said. "We've just got to keep riding the wave and keep playing the way we have. Maybe not the way we played the first 10 minutes of yesterday, but other than that, just do the same thing."

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Speaking of Sundqvist, he scored just his second goal of the season in the win over the Capitals and did so playing center.

Sundqvist played 15:50 and had two shots on goal but lost seven of 10 face-offs for the game. It was evident, however, that he was more involved in plays playing in the middle of the ice.

"It's kind of a different role," Sundqvist said. "You get the puck a little bit more. I get to support the plays a little bit more all over the ice. For me personally, it doesn't really matter where I play. I just play wherever Chief puts me. But it was nice to be back in the middle. Being more of a support guy and getting the puck and transporting the puck. It's easier for my sake to come in and to get into games and play my type of game."

Sundqvist centered Brandon Saad and David Perron.

"I thought 'Sunny' had a strong game," Berube said. "I hadn’t played him at center much this year. Maybe early on when he got back, but I moved him to wing. I thought he was solid at center tonight, which is good to see. That was a big goal that that line scored. I thought they were pretty solid for us tonight. 'Sunny' was a solid player."

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As for Perron, he played just 12:47 Friday, which is his lowest minutes in a game since he played 12:45 on Feb. 21, 2020 against Dallas. 

Perron played in his fourth game since returning from an upper-body injury that forced him to miss 11 games; he has a goal and an assist, scoring in the Winter Classic against Minnesota on Jan. 1 but still seems like he's trying to find his game a bit.

"To a certain extent, I think," Berube said. "Coming off an injury like he had, I think it's going to take a little bit of time probably mentally for him. But I expect David to be fine. I expect him to get going here and produce for us and do a good job. He's a valuable guy on our team, we need him. He's been a very good player here for quite some time and I expect him to get to that level again."

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The Blues and Stars will conclude their regular-season series on Sunday. The Blues have won two of the first three matchups, including each of the past two games. 

Coincidentally, each score this season has been by a 4-1 count, with the Stars winning in Dallas on Nov. 20 and the Blues winning in Dallas on Dec. 14 and at home on Dec. 17.

The Stars (17-12-2) have won four in a row after they ended the 10-game winning streak of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday with a 3-2 win, rallying from a 2-0 first-period deficit.

"These division games are important, so we've got to be ready to rock," Krug said. "One o’clock game, quick turnaround. So get a good skate in tomorrow. We’ll watch some film and prepare and go from there."

"We know to expect a tough game against those guys," Faulk said. "They play hard and they're a physical team. They always have a ton of talent up front too. I think we like those games, we like the games that are going to be tough, kind of a working game. It fits right into our team style or our mentality. Not to say we've outplayed them or anything like that, but we just enjoy it, we get up for those games, we like them and we expect nothing different tomorrow. It'll be a tough game."

Berube said the Blues need to be aware of Dallas' ability to get to the net.

"The one thing they do well, Dallas, is they go to the net hard," he said. "They tip and deflect a lot of pucks, especially (Joe) Pavelski. It'll be important, he's having a real solid year. He got a deflection goal last game against Florida. We've got to make sure we get his stick tied up and we're doing a good job there with him. Dallas always plays a hard game. Defensively, they don't give you a whole lot. We're going to have to earn it and we're going to have really be a highly-competitive team. It's going to be a big game, it's going to be a hard game."

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* Forward Jordan Kyrou is riding a four-game point streak (four goals, five assists) after picking up a helper against Washington.

* Forward Pavel Buchnevich, after two goals and an assist against Washington, has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) his past 24 games.

* After scoring Friday, forward Ivan Barbashev has nine points (three goals, six assists) his past six games.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev-Ryan O'Reilly-Pavel Buchnevich

Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-David Perron

Logan Brown-Tyler Bozak-Klim Kostin

Niko Mikkola-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Robert Bortuzzo 

Jordan Binnington is projected to start in goal; Ville Husso would be the backup.

The Blues have no healthy scratches and no injuries. Vladimir Tarasenko, Scott Perunovich and Jake Walman each are out due to COVID-19 protocol.

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The Stars' projected lineup:

Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Joe Pavelski

Denis Gurianov-Jamie Benn-Tyler Seguin

Michael Raffl-Radek Faksa-Luke Glendening

Joel Kiviranta-Jacob Peterson-Alexander Radulov

Ryan Suter-John Klingberg

Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera-Jani Hakanpaa

Braden Holtby is projected to start in goal; Jake Oettinger would be the backup.

The healthy scratch could be Joel Hanley. Tanner Kero (upper body) is out.