(2-15-22) Blues-Senators Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
The Blues are looking to take their act on the road and become successful road warriors.

Starting with a matchup against the Ottawa Senators (17-24-4) today at 6 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), the Blues (27-14-5) begin a four-game trip and will play eight of their next nine away from the confines of Enterprise Center when they embark to begin with, a trip to Canadian Tire Centre.

"We're just trying to build our game," defenseman Justin Faulk said. "We've gone over some areas defensively especially that we need to clean up and then working as a group of five. If we continue to work at that, limit other teams' scoring chances, it's going to make us a lot harder to play against and that's what we're looking for. We're looking to build that game and just not rely on scoring five goals every night because it's not going to happen. We need to just make sure that we're prepared for those games when they're going to be 1-0, 1-1 going into the third and late in the game and we need to find a way to win. I think if we just keep working at that, a successful trip is No. 1 and that'll be the second part of it I guess."

The trip will continue with games at Montreal on Thursday, at Toronto on Saturday and conclude with a game in Philadelphia Feb. 22, a game originally scheduled for Feb. 27 but was moved up with rescheduling of games because of COVID-19.

"We've got enough motivation," center Robert Thomas said. "You look at our standings in our conference. Every game means so much. Coming out of the break, didn't start the way we wanted to, but we started to build something last game and it's about continuing that and getting back to our game. Every game's so important. We want to start getting ready for down the stretch and into the playoffs. Every year's about building our game and getting more confidence in our team.

"I think (Saturday) was definitely a step in the right direction. I still think we've got some areas to clean up on. Definitely from the game prior against New Jersey was a lot better. We've just got to keep on building that momentum and getting that team swagger back. That's what we use every game for. Obviously they're all so important with how tight our division is."

The Blues followed up a 7-4 clunker against New Jersey last Thursday coming off an 11-day layoff with a well-rounded, resounding 5-1 win against rival Chicago. They limited the Blackhawks to a season-low 16 shots against, got solid goaltending from Ville Husso, who will start again tonight, balanced the offense with five different goal scorers and played the brand of hockey they're built for.

"Looking at the tape and video we showed (Monday), how we just tracked hard and broke plays up and not giving freebies up, just not giving free shots up at the net," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I thought our guys did a good job. I loved the three goals. It's just relentless hockey down in the offensive zone, good sticks, breaking plays up and making plays to get goals. They were nice goals. Everybody contributing was important too. It was good to see.

"(Ottawa's) a very hard-working team. Their coach [D.J. Smith] does a great job. He's got great structure, his teams play hard, they compete. That's what you're going to see out of the Ottawa Senators. They're going to compete hard, they're going to work hard, they're going to play with some good structure. They've got a lot of good, young players on their team. We're going to really have to work here tonight, we're going to have to do things right. We're going to have to initiate as much as we can here. We should be looking to get on our toes here right away in the first period and get after this team as quickly as possible."

"Overall, I think we were happy with our game defensively and it showed that we can still score goals if we can do that," Faulk said. "It's something that we needed to tighten up a little bit is the play without the puck. We need to keep building on it because it's not going to get any easier going forward.

"We were skating more I think. Obviously from the beginning, we had our legs the first period there and built off it. You need to work together. I think sometimes the four guys without the puck are just as important for the next play as the guy with it. If they don't skate to space and give the guy an opportunity to make a play, there's not much the guy with the puck can do. If we're all working together, all it does is just make the job easier for the guy with the puck."

The Senators are 3-3-0 in their past six games but have snuck up and bitten some very good teams as of late, including a 4-1 win at Washington on Sunday.

They'll be ready for the Blues tonight, with respect, of course.

"When I looked at their lines today, I can't think of the last time we played a team that looks this deep," Smith said of the Blues. "When you look at it, if you would call it their third line of (Brandon) Saad, (David) Perron and (Ivan) Barbashev, each line's got 35-40 goals, their top line's got 50. I've seen 156 goals scored already, they're on pace to score 300 goals. They've got big D, they check. When you watch them play, you don't get much. It's a really good hockey team and it's a team built for the playoffs. They play the right way, they play hard, they're obviously well-coached. They're all healthy right now, so when you look at it, it's as deep a team I think we've played."

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Berube will stick with the same lineup as the one he used against the Blackhawks, meaning former first-round pick by the Senators in 2016, Logan Brown, will not suit up against his former foes.

Brown, the No. 11 pick that season, was traded to the Blues by the Senators along with a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft for Zach Sanford. The condition will be met should Brown play in at least 30 regular-season NHL games this season; he's played 17 games and has three goals and three assists.

"As a player, when you play somewhere and you're part of an organization and he probably looked forward to playing against your old players and teammates and stuff, but I wanted to stick with the same lineup, so it's just a coach's decision," Berube said. "That line did a good job. Dakota Joshua, 'Sunny' and [Klim] Kostin got us a big goal. Again, they were physical."

Sanford will be in the lineup for the Senators tonight. He was a cap casualty more than just a chance in scenery for both skaters, with the Blues up against the cap ceiling before the season began.

Sanford has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 45 games this season.

"'Sanny' did a lot of good for us and he was part of a Cup-winning team and did a good job helping us," Berube said. "He was a big part of that. I think Sanford was the type of guy you can move up and down your lineup, different positions. He's strong, he did a lot of good things, hanging onto pucks and he was strong with the puck and things like that. He's a good player, but sometimes, you've just got to move on for whatever reason."

It will be Sanford's first matchup against the Blues, who he played the past three-plus seasons for.

"It's always fun to play against your old teams, your old buddies," Sanford told reporters in Ottawa today. "I'm looking forward to this one and hopefully we can come out and have a strong game. ... I played there for a few years, got close with some of them. I had some great seasons there with the team, but I'm looking forward to going head-to-head with these guys."

One of "these guys" will be his close friend, Thomas.

"It's great to see him," Thomas said. "He's one of my close buddies here. It's definitely going to be weird playing against him, but I'm happy for him. He's had a good year and he's made the most of his opportunity. I'm happy to see him. ... I saw him a little bit in pregame skate just catching up to him a little bit, that's about it."

Thomas will also go head-to-head against another one of his close friend, Brady Tkachuk.

"It should be a fun one. He's playing well, they're whole team's playing well," Thomas said. "They've got a bunch of young, skilled players and they work extremely hard, so it should be a fun test for us tonight."

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Husso will get the start on the heels of another solid performance, his seventh start the past nine games.

Husso, who is 10-3-1 on the season, leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.84) and save percentage (.941).

"You see them sometimes, but I don't really focus for that," Husso said of his numbers. "I just focus for the next game. It's going to be a tough stretch for us, a lot of games in a short time. Just try to get as many wins as we can."

Among Husso's impressive numbers are in the high danger areas, where he is first in high-danger save percentage among goalies with 16 appearances or more at .886, ahead of Colorado's Darcy Kuemper (.876) and New York Rangers' Igor Shesterkin (.873), according to natural stat trick.

"Me and (Dave Alexander), the goalie coach, have done a good job this year," Husso said. "We still need to get better and I feel like Davey helped me a lot this year. It started already like last year. He's done a really good job in making my job easier with what we do in practice and the goalie drills. Those are the big things that as a goalie, you want to make those stops and help your team."

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* The Blues have won five of their past six games against the Senator and have won six of the past seven visits to Ottawa.

* With a win tonight, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will get his 500th win as their GM.

* Husso is 7-1-0 since Jan. 1 with a 1.33 GAA, a .954 save percentage and one shutout.

* Forward Jordan Kyrou has 18 points his past 15 games (nine goals, nine assists).

* Forward Brayden Schenn has a four-game point streak (three goals, four assists and 13 points (seven goals, six assists) his past eight games.

* Defenseman Torey Krug has 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) his past 15 games; he has 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 25 games against the Senators.

* Forward Vladimir Tarasenko has a point in 12 of his last 14 (18 in all on eight goals, 10 assists), scoring at least one goal in seven of those games.

* Center Ryan O’Reilly has 11 points in his past 12 games (five goals, six assists); he has 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 21 games against the Senators. 

* Saad needs one goal for 200 in his NHL career.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Ryan O’Reilly-Jordan Kyrou

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Ivan Barbashev-David Perron

Klim Kostin-Dakota Joshua-Oskar Sundqvist

Niko Mikkola-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Jake Walman-Robert Bortuzzo

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

Healthy scratches include Tyler Bozak and Logan Brown. ... Scott Perunovich (upper body) did not accompany the team on the road trip, and Marco Scandella (lower body) will miss his second straight game. 

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The Senators' projected lineup:

Brady Tkachuk-Nick Paul-Connor Brown

Alex Formenton-Tim Stutzle-Adam Gaudette

Parker Kelly-Chris Tierney-Zach Sanford

Clark Bishop-Dylan Gambrell-Tyler Ennis

Victor Mete-Nikita Zaitsev

Nick Holden-Artem Zub
 
Erik Brannstrom-Josh Brown

Matt Murray will start in goal; Anton Forsberg will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Mark Kastelic. Colin White (shoulder), Shane Pinto (upper body), Drake Batherson (ankle), Josh Norris (shoulder) and Thomas Chabot (undisclosed) are all out. Austin Watson is serving a two-game suspension.