(12-9-21) Red Wings-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- For a second straight game, the Blues (13-8-4) will play a player short, this time against the Detroit Red Wings (13-10-3) today at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The Blues prevailed Tuesday playing a skater short to start the game, 4-3 in overtime over the Florida Panthers, a game in which they actually finished two players and a goalie short, but nonetheless, they prevailed.

They'll have to do so again tonight with Jake Walman (upper body injury) out after he was injured in the third period Tuesday along with goalie Ville Husso (lower body). 

But since they did play a skater short then, the Blues were able to recall forward Nathan Walker from Springfield of the American Hockey League and he will be in the lineup tonight as part of a mix-and-match line with Dakota Joshua and whoever else jumps over the boards with them each shift.

"Definitely happy to be here and obviously want to do the best that I can in order to get the points up and get those wins," Walker said. "It's crazy. It's definitely part of the sport, injuries and obviously with COVID affecting the world right now. It's affecting pro sports too. It's pretty nuts, but we're just going to come in, play my game and do my part and hopefully get the two points tonight.

"... This is my third year with the organization now. I would like to think I work pretty hard and that feeds into my game. As long as I can do that, it gives us a chance to win tonight."

Walker has played in 25 NHL games, including 13 with the Blues in each of the past two seasons and has two goals and an assist in his time with St. Louis; he had 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 19 games with the Thunderbirds this season.

"He's a solid player," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Walker. "He's a good 200-foot player and he competes hard, he plays with a lot of energy and emotion, which is good for our hockey team. That's the main thing that he really brings. He has the ability to score some goals too. He scores in the minors pretty consistently. He can be used in a number of different situations up and down your lineup. I've used him up the lineup, down the lineup. He can kill penalties if we needed him to, too."

- - -

Charlie Lindgren will make his second appearance with the Blues after the 27-year-old played the final 6:25 of Tuesday's win over the Panthers, a game in which he got the win in.

It will be Lindgren's first start since a 4-1 loss to the Panthers as a member of the Montreal Canadiens on March 7, 2020.

"He's been around, he's played games," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said of Lindgren. "We feel comfortable with him, we feel confident in him. He's a guy that's going to go out and just by seeing him in practice, he battles, he competes, he works, he's not going to give up on pucks. It's our job in front of him to make it a little bit easier on him. That's playing hard defensively. let him make the easy saves and we're looking forward to seeing him in there tonight."

Lindgren was 8-1-1 with a 2.16 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in Springfield in a tandem with Joel Hofer.

"In Springfield, he's kept us in a lot of games," Walker said. "Him and 'Hof' have been doing really well and it's exciting for him. I'm excited to watch him play tonight."

Lindgren is 11-12-2 with a 2.99 GAA and .907 save percentage in 25 NHL appearances and Tuesday was his first in relief; he will be backed up by Jon Gillies, signed to a one-year, two-way contract Wednesday as insurance for as long as Husso and Jordan Binnington (COVID protocol) are out.

"I don't have a ton of games under my belt but I definitely have more than a few and last year was my first year not playing a game in the NHL," Lindgren said. "I know with Montreal, whenever I got the chance to play for the Canadiens and got called up, I usually handled it pretty well and did a pretty good job. I don't feel intimidated by any means. I feel confident and  confident in the guys in the room too and just not going to over-think anything. Just going to go out there and just try to be myself and play my game."

- - -

Blues forward David Perron, who will miss his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury, was on the ice today for the morning skate and participated in line rushes and special teams work, a positive sign for a potential imminent return.

With Tyler Bozak eligible to return to the ice Friday off COVID-19 protocol, the Blues can finally perhaps get back to some sanity of running a full lineup for games.

"He's feeling good, so it's a good sign that he's out there with us," Berube said of Perron. "He'll skate with us tomorrow and we'll go from there."

"Honestly, soon to get one player at a time," Schenn said. "They're all going to obviously be closer day by day and with 'DP', he knows when he's going to be ready. At the end of the day, just go out there and it's nice to see him out there smiling and joking around and being the guy he is. It's one day closer to playing, and whenever that day comes, we're obviously looking forward to him being back in the lineup."

- - -

Speaking of feeling good, Schenn said he's finally feeling like his old self after his upper-body injury that he sustained Oct. 30 against Chicago and put him out of the lineup after the first period of a Nov. 4 game at San Jose, leaving Schenn sidelined for nine games.

He scored in Tuesday's win, his first point in the seven games since he returned to the lineup.

"I feel good now," Schenn said. "For a while there, five or six games, you come back and you try and help the team. Maybe it's a little bit too early, but now I feel 100 percent. I feel I can go out and play the physical style of hockey that I need to play in order to be effective. I think when I do that, other elements or other parts of the game kind of come out for me. I feel good, I feel ready to go and trying to help this team win hockey games and contribute offensively more."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brandon Saad-Ryan O'Reilly-Jordan Kyrou 

Pavel Buchnevich-Ivan Barbashev-Vladimir Tarasenko 

Logan Brown-Brayden Schenn-Oskar Sundqvist

Nathan Walker-Dakota Joshua 

Niko Mikkola-Colton Parayko

Marco Scandella-Torey Krug

Scott Perunovich-Robert Bortuzzo

Charlie Lindgren will start in goal; Jon Gillies will be the backup. 

The Blues have no healthy scratches. David Perron (upper body), Robert Thomas (lower 

body), James Neal (upper body), Klim Kostin (upper body), Ville Husso (lower body) and Jake Walman (upper body) are all out. Tyler Bozak, Jordan Binnington and Justin Faulk are in COVID-19 protocol.

- - -

The Red Wings' projected lineup:

Robby Fabbri-Dylan Larkin-Lucas Raymond

Joe Veleno-Pius Suter-Filip Zadina

Vladislav Namestnikov-Michael Rasmussen-Adam Erne

Givani Smith-Carter Rowney-Sam Gagner

Danny DeKeyser-Moritz Seider

Nick Leddy-Filip Hronek

Jordan Oesterle-Dan Renouf

Alex Nedeljkovic will start in goal; Thomas Greiss will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Luke Witkowski, Kyle Criscuolo and Brian Lashoff. Troy Stecher (wrist), Mitchell Stephens (lower body) and Gustav Lindstrom (lower body) are out. Tyler Bertuzzi and Marc Staal are in COVID-19 protocol.

Blues call up Walker, sign Gillies as roster continues to be in flux

Team dealing with nine players out with injury, COVID-19 protocol feeling 

affects of CBA rules, ability to field full roster in light of being a cap ceiling team

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The news just more and more complicated for the Blues, who by the way won a game on Tuesday for those that may have been caught up in the latest roster fog.

So Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, in a jovial mood despite the Blues' current roster influx, gave an update on the current goings on with the Blues.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Ryan O'Reilly (90) and the Blues found a way to defeat the Florida Panthers

on Tuesday playing three skaters short in the end.

"Since we talked last week, I feel like Dr. Fauci talking to you guys about medical issues here," he joked.

But here's the situation with the Blues, who pulled out a 4-3 overtime win over the Florida Panthers playing a skater short to begin the game and losing goalie Ville Husso to a lower-body injury and defenseman Jake Walman to an upper-body injury in the third period:
Being a cap ceiling team with little wiggle room, since the Blues played a skater short Tuesday, they were able to recall forward Nathan Walker from Springfield of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions, and they signed goalie Jon Gillies, who was with their farm team last season, to a one-year, two-way.

"Gillies is called up because Husso is out with a lower-body injury and Walman's out with an upper-body injury," Armstrong said. "They're getting tested today, so we'll have an update on them on Friday when we get all that information."

The Blues signed Gillies, 27, who played four games with Providence and Lehigh Valley of the AHL this season, because of the uncertainty of Husso, Jordan Binnington still in COVID-19 protocol and because they can't call up Joel Hofer, who makes more than the $850,000 threshold allowed under the CBA under these circumstances.

"For cap issues, both of our remaining goalies, because of their contracts where their bonuses take them slightly over $850,000, we had to sign somebody that's making $850,000 or less, so Gillies is playing in the American Hockey League on an AHL contract, so we signed him," Armstrong said. "He'll be in (St. Louis) tonight and be ready to partner tomorrow with (Charlie) Lindgren and we'll just take it day by day from there to where Ville is and we're hoping to get Binnington back early to late next week. 

"With Walker, because we played short last night, we were able to bring up Walker for (Thursday's) game, but because of the rules, (since) we got another injury, we have to play short for tomorrow, then if we have no injuries, we can be back to full strength on Saturday. As of now, it looks like we have to play short again tomorrow because of the way the CBA is written."

So what that means is when the Blues play shorthanded again on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings, which by the way will be Robby Fabbri's first game back in St. Louis since he was traded to Motown, but that's a story for another day, the Blues can recall another player under emergency conditions for Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens if they so choose. 

Initially, Armstrong thought the rule read that when the Blues played their shorthanded game Tuesday, they could recall as many skaters to have a full roster as they wanted, but that isn't the case.

"Obviously I find it strange the way it's written," Armstrong said. "We played short last night. They allowed us to bring up a guy so we don't have to play short two games in a row but because another guy got hurt (Walman), we can't recall two guys. So let's say somebody else got hurt, we'll have to play short until we go through a game where somebody doesn't get hurt."

So under the current rules, when you're allowed to recall an emergency player to prevent from playing shorthanded, it's done for players making the league minimum ($750,000) plus $100,000 so nobody with a cap hit of over $850,000 can be called up, which explains why Hofer, who has a cap hit of $795,000 but a $132,500 performance bonus pushes his average annual value to $910,333.

"It was done in the last CBA so you didn't have to play short," Armstrong said. "Obviously the COVID situation has changed everything. The league treats COVID like a normal injury so it complicates things.

"On the COVID front, it's obviously been a slippery slope for us right now. With our minor league team inactive because of COVID, we have 13 employees (out) with COVID, (including) eight players, so when you look at our current roster right now with eligible players that could play hockey, 25 percent of our group's had COVID right now. We're working through it. We're trying to do the best we can to try and put a product on the ice that is competitive. I tip my hat to the guys what they did last night against a very good Florida team. Really what they've done since the COVID hit the guys on the last road trip, they've done a heck of a job."

Reinforcements are expected on the way soon, with veteran forward Tyler Bozak the likeliest to return the earliest, on Friday and be ready to come back perhaps as early as Saturday.
David Perron, out with an upper-body injury, and Robert Thomas, out with a lower-body injury, will not be available Thursday.

"David Perron is still day to day and same with Thomas," Armstrong said. "They're both getting more tests done. Neither of them are certainly going to play tomorrow."

Binnington, in COVID protocol with Bozak and Justin Faulk, could be ready as early as Monday at Dallas or as late as a week from Friday at home against the Stars.

"My understanding of the guys that are getting COVID in our group aren't getting severe symptoms, so we're hoping that maybe as early as Tuesday and at the late end on Friday," Armstrong said. "It's just going to be an energy issue and when he's going to face some shots. We can't  be penny wise, pound foolish with any of these guys coming back from COVID. There's no sense in getting them out there and having them get injured and then start rolling down this road again. So whether it's Bozak, who I think is the first guy to come off on the weekend. We've got to make sure he's mentally prepared and physically prepared to play. I think Husso took a couple extra days and (Torey) Krug jumped right in. It's just an indication where we think they're at. We don't want to put someone in a difficult spot. That's the issue right now. We're taxing, not just 18, now we're taxing 17 players on back to back nights and we don't want to put a guy in and then if he's not prepared to play and lose him for that game and maybe longer.

"We're hoping. If nothing changes, if nobody else was healthy and we don't have any injuries Thursday, because we play short, we can call another guy up from the minors, but if we play tomorrow and someone else gets injured, that player had to sit out, we can call another guy up and still have to play short. Is that clear as mud?"

The Blues GM is certainly learning all of this on the fly, as is everyone else, with the Blues (13-8-4) in the middle of it all.

"I would say I had general knowledge of it," Armstrong said. "When it affects you, you dig in deeper. Like the rule last night, I thought because we played short and we got an injury, we would be able to call up two guys. I was told that's not the case last night after ... again, right now we have nine players in St. Louis out, so it is what it is. You sort of learn on the fly. I think it steps back to the injuries we have and plus the COVID. COVID's treated like any injury. Some guys can play through injury, but obviously the league doesn't allow you to play through COVID.

"The COVID aspect of it is a little different for all of us right now. It's not long enough to put a guy on LTI, but it's four games or five games. When you get multiple COVID's and then you add that on to the six injuries that we have, it's a lot of money that ... and it's a positive thing. It's a positive thing that we only have of our six skating injuries, only two are on LTI. That's not a negative. Hopefully they're going to be back sooner than later, but it does handicap what you can do."

With James Neal and Klim Kostin on long-term injured reserve, the Blues were able to call up Logan Brown and Dakota Joshua. With Perron, the Blues don't want to risk putting the veteran on LTIR because he would have to miss 10 games and 24 days, and with the Blues' schedule compressed right now, Perron would have to miss 11 games, and with him being day to day, the Blues have that option but only if it gets closer to that threshold.

"If we get closer to it, but right now, yeah, to guarantee he has to miss 10 games is too big of a stretch to pull somebody up for this situation," Armstrong said. "He's too valuable, yes."

So for the interim, it will be Lindgren, who came on in relief of Husso and played the final 6:25 to pick up the win, his 11th win in the NHL in his 25th game.

"I called Charlie after the game and I said that had to be the easiest win he's gotten in his NHL career," Armstrong said. "It is what it is. We were able to sign a goalie and get somebody in, but obviously it's never good when your No. 1 and No. 2 goalie are out. But it's a great opportunity for Charlie and quite honestly for Gillies who wants to get back to the NHL. We have three games in four nights and it's a coach's decision on who plays and if Husso's not ready in that time, he may even get an NHL game."

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Dakota Joshua (54) has been one of the players recalled from the American

Hockey League to fill a void with the Blues roster in flux.

Lindgren said, "Yeah, he called me on the way home last night and we got a good chuckle about that. Only saw a couple shots, no Grade A's or anything but, I also want to point out too, just you how impressive 'Huus' was that whole game, keeping the team in the game and the last couple games I watched he's played excellent. You never like to see a guy go down like that and definitely hope for speedy recovery."

Lindgren, who is fourth on the goalie depth chart and was 8-1-1 with a 2.16 goals-against average and .926 save percentage with the Thunderbirds, is looking forward to the challenge but understands the circumstances.

"Yeah it's crazy," Lindgren said. "To be honest with you, I really have no idea what's going on with the cap and all that. I just hear what the guys are saying, but at the end of the day, I'm here, my job’s to play as hard and as well as I can for the Blues and that's all I can really focus on.

"I was definitely feeling really good down there. We got an excellent hockey team, great coaching staff and bottom line, we're having a lot of fun playing with each other and I got a few other 'Birds up here and just a great group of guys. We're having a ton of fun so I was feeling good personally and definitely want to carry that momentum up here."

Shorthanded Blues pull off improbable 4-3 OT win over Panthers

Down one roster player going in, down seven players total, team loses 

goalie, defenseman, finish game with 17 players before Buchnevich winner 

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Already down seven players -- seven important, key players -- and having to play one skater short going into the game, the mounting loss of bodies didn't stop there for the Blues.

(St. Louis Blues photo/Scott Rovak)

Pavel Buchnevich (right) scores on a wraparound part Panthers goalie Spencer

Knight (left) to give the Blues a 4-3 win.

Then, goalie Ville Husso went down in the third period and defenseman Jake Walman went down on virtually the same play. So now the Blues are down to 10 forwards, six defenseman and a backup goalie that had never played a second for them but has NHL experience in Charlie Lindgren.

Was anyone even left to finish out a thrilling game against the high-flying Florida Panthers, who came in as the league's top team with 37 points?

But yet, the cardiac Blues found a way to prevail. They did so with a dramatic flare when Pavel Buchnevich, one of the remaining forwards still in one piece, scored 53 seconds into overtime to give the Blues an improbable 4-3 win against the Panthers at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

How did this happen, you ask?

Good question. 

Somehow, someway, the bodies that were left to fend for the high-flying Panthers were able to regroup, especially after the Blues (13-8-4) were whamboozled by the Panthers (17-4-4) in the first period and were smothered, covered and pinned back in their zone. 

But the final outcome of the first 20 minutes was only a 1-0 deficit, thanks to the efforts of Husso, despite being outshot 20-5 and out-Corsi'ed 30-6.

"It's pretty tough luck right now but at the end of the day, it is what it is and there's no excuses," said Blues forward Brandon Saad, whose third-period goal gave the Blues a 3-2 lead, his team-leading 11th this season. "We’re playing some good hockey teams and competing and battling, staying alive and had a good win tonight. I think the message is whoever’s healthy, whoever’s playing keep competing and we’re going to have success."

But that is the lingering question: who is healthy?

The Blues already were playing without forwards David Perron, James Neal and Klim Kostin out with upper-body injuries and Robert Thomas missed with a lower-body injury and goalie Jordan Binnington, defenseman Justin Faulk and forward Tyler Bozak all shelved due to COVID-19 protocol. It's more a MASH'ed up unit than a walking -- or skating -- wounded.

"No, I didn't see it (before)," Buchnevich said. "It's first time I actually play with a short lineup. A lot of new for me this season. Like, a beer league goalie come up in Tampa, short guys, I don't know."

But what happened on Tuesday leaves a lot for these players to be commended for. What they pulled off is no easy task. And don't think for a second the Panthers felt sorry for the Blues. Nobody will feel sorry for the Blues, so what they did has to come within those locker room walls of theirs. 

"Yeah, I know the first period wasn't like we wanted it, but they were covered," said Blues coach Craig Berube, who along with assistants Mike Van Ryn, Steve Ott and Jim Montgomery had to be scrambling who was going over the boards next. "I thought the guys did a great job in the second and third period and our special teams were really good tonight. That's a big part of it all. But you know, the guys worked and competed, and they played the second and third period like we want to play -- on our toes, attacking, being competitive and doing a lot of good things."

When Aleksander Barkov scored and gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 6:49 of the opening period, the 16,372 in attendance figured with everything that had already happened and the ship sinking fast, the writing was on the wall and the white flag was being surrendered.

Not this group. 

Not on this night.

"It’s a bit of a grind right now, but we're doing a good job of competing regardless of how many guys we have out of the lineup," Saad said. "I’m really proud of our group."

They should be.

"I mean, this does look short, not a full lineup and it's obviously tough, tough first period for us," Buchnevich said. "We give up a lot of shots, a lot of PK, penalties. But we just stick together with our group and win the game."

The Blues began to gain their momentum when Vladimir Tarasenko scored his first in 11 games to the game 1-1 on a shift set up with sustained zone time by Ivan Barbashev, Dakota Joshua and Logan Brown that kept the play alive for a line change. And even after falling behind 2-1 when Brandon Montour scored, Brayden Schenn's first in seven games tied it 2-2 and it was all leveled with 20 minutes to try and pull out a win.

Saad got a stick on Barbashev's shot from the slot and gave the Blues a 3-2 lead, who were trying to protect it, but with 8:59 remaining, Husso appeared to extend himself on an attempted wraparound by Jonathan Huberdeau on what appeared to be a right hamstring or groin injury that Scott Perunovich likely saved a goal on. On the same play, Walman injured himself when he was being cross-checked by Frank Vatrano multiple times in the d-zone. 

Walman departed the game at that point and did not return, but Husso, who stopped 34 of 37 shots after kicking out 48 of 51 in a 4-3 shootout loss against Florida on Saturday, stayed in until Huberdeau tied it 3-3 with 5:32 to play. He then left and did not return and Lindgren, with no warmup, came on.

The Blues are down to 17 players in all.

Total.

"We were shorthanded, that's for sure," Berube said. "You know, guys battled, I'm proud of them. They worked and came through."

So Husso played for another three and a half minutes and tried gutting out an ailment. He did all he could but once the game was tied, he felt it best to give way to a healthier body. If the Blues even know what that is anymore.

So ... what does Berube do with Lindgren?

"Just go in there," Berube said. "I mean there's nothing to say.

(St. Louis Blues photo/Scott Rovak)

Blues goalie Ville Husso makes one of his 34 saves against the Florida

Panthers on Tuesday before leaving with a lower-body injury.

"He looked confident to me, coming out and playing pucks. I don't think it fazed him that much. He's a pretty confident guy as far as I know, with his mannerisms and seeing him around and stuff like that in practice. He's a very hard worker in practice, a very well-liked guy in our hockey club. He went in and did a good job."

Three saves. That's all the Blues needed. That's all they got until Buchnevich put the capper on an improbable night.

"Leadership is a big thing," Berube said. "I thought our leaders did a great job tonight, playing, competing, keeping things together out there, talking, all of them."

As for tomorrow?

"What happens next, I don't know," Buchnevich said. "Exciting season.

"We kind of don't talk about that. I'm thinking in my mind like, 'Do we have next game or no?' Figure out tomorrow."

(12-7-21) Panthers-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The hits keep coming for the Blues (12-8-4), who have a repeat matchup against the Florida Panthers, who come in with the best record in the league (17-4-3), today at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Already down six players for various reasons, including injury and COVID-19 protocol, center Robert Thomas will not play tonight with a lower-body injury and is listed as day to day.

Thomas leads the Blues with 20 assists and has 22 points in 24 games this season for a team already short on numbers.

"I think all-around play. He's been one of our more consistent players all year," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "He's shown he's playing both ends of the ice real well. Obviously his puck play is incredible, whether it's distributing it to people or transporting it up the ice. His face-offs have been excellent. Penalty kill and power play, he's an all-situations guy."

The Blues are already missing David Perron (upper body), James Neal (upper body) and Klim Kostin (upper body) due to injury and Tyler Bozak, Jordan Binnington and Justin Faulk each out in COVID-19 protocol.

Being up against the salary cap ceiling, the Blues will have to play a skater short tonight and will go with 10 forwards and seven defensemen.

"It's just hurdles you've got to get over," Berube said. "I think our players are in a real good spot. They seem good, they seem excited for tonight. I think that the way I was trying to present it to them is we've got to play a real smart game tonight for sure being shorthanded like that, don't put yourself in tough spots and things like that. Our guys seem good though. They seem excited. We'll see what happens.

"As a coach, you look at it as a challenge for sure and you present that challenge to your team and just talk about how we should approach this game. It's the way it is and you've got to fight your way through this stuff." 

The Blues will have two full lines at forward and two lines with two skaters on each, likely needing some help from a defenseman or two that will have to jump up and fill shifts at forward, a unique situation to say the least and makes you wonder how, not if, they will be able to field a roster.

"To be honest, I don't really know. We'll see when we come out there, but it's tough," defenseman Torey Krug said. "These are things we've got to deal with throughout the season. A lot of teams face a lot of situations and obviously this is one that I've never faced personally in my career. I'm sure other guys haven't, but it is what it is. Can't really do anything about it. Time to go play.

"... We've had a very good approach to this whole thing. Understanding, realizing that things out of our control are going to happen throughout the year and probably in waves like they have been recently. We know it's happening and it is what it is and we just move on. We just prepare for the next day to worry about our own jobs. We've been very good with our approach realizing that playing shorthanded, you've got to be a little smarter, realize that you've got to take care of the puck, limit the turnovers and these are all things you want to do anyway, but it definitely magnifies it when you have less and less guys."

What it does is gives guys more ice time. Some feel it's a need, some perhaps don't, especially those fighting through injury that may worsen, which is likely the case for Thomas.

"I think for anyone, it's almost easier if you're playing more minutes," Krug said. "You don't have to think or worry about things shift to shift. You just jump over the boards and you just play hockey. From an individual standpoint, it might be something I need right now to get things moving. I'm excited. Any time the coach taps your shoulder to go over the boards and you get to compete for the team. It's a great opportunity to get your game on track and you don't have to worry or think about things. I'm very excited for it."

- - -

Tonight will see Ville Husso get the call in goal and he will be opposed by Spencer Knight.
On Saturday in Florida's 4-3 shootout win, the Panthers pumped 51 shots on goal and 89 attempts Husso's way (he was brilliant in defeat with 48 saves).

"I think we can play more of a territorial game, probably a little faster too," Krug said. "I think they obviously hemmed us in some moments and they were throwing a lot of things at the net. Blocking shots and then quick transition to force them to play defense. Then once you do get it down there, hold onto pucks and make it harder for them to break out pucks and their D to join. There's definitely a lot more we can do better. I think we're looking forward to another good challenge."

The Panthers held an 89-35 advantage in shot attempts in the game, and with the Blues playing a man short tonight, it will allow them to recall a skater on Wednesday in an emergency situation from Springfield. But as for tonight, playing simple is of the utmost importance.

Also, Florida is boosted by the return of Aleksander Barkov, who missed the past eight games  with a knee injury.

"You don't want to put yourself in bad situations, managing the puck properly is really important tonight, not extending your shifts," Berube said. "I can go through a list of things. You want to play simple and smart. We always talk about simplicity I think, but tonight's even more important."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brandon Saad-Ryan O'Reilly-Pavel Buchnevich 

Jordan Kyrou-Brayden Schenn-Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev-Logan Brown-Oskar Sundqvist

Dakota Joshua

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Niko Mikkola

Scott Perunovich-Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Walman

Ville Husso will start in goal; Charlie Lindgren will be the backup.

The Blues report no healthy scratches. David Perron (upper body), Robert Thomas (lower body), James Neal (upper body) and Klim Kostin (upper body) are out with injuries. Tyler Bozak, Jordan Binnington and Justin Faulk are all in COVID-19 protocol.

- - -

The Panthers' projected lineup:

Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Maxim Mamin 

Jonathan Huberdeau-Sam Bennett-Sam Reinhart

Frank Vatrano-Anton Lundell-Owen Tippett

Ryan Lomberg-Eetu Luostarinen-Patric Hornqvist

MacKenzie Weegar-Aaron Ekblad

Gustav Forsling-Radko Gudas

Lucas Carlsson-Brandon Montour

Spencer Knight will start in goal; Sergei Bobrovsky will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Joe Thornton and Olli Juolevi. Mason Marchment (upper body), Markus Nutivaara (lower body) and Anthony Duclair (lower body) are out with injuries.

Blues likely to play shorthanded against Panthers

Thomas latest to go down with lower-body injury, day to day according to 

Berube, leaving team with 17 skaters available due to injury, COVID protocol

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- As if the Blues haven't dealt with enough in  these last stretch of games, now having the possibility of playing a skater short will be added to the checklist.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Robert Thomas (18) could be the latest Blues skater to go down, may miss

game Tuesday against Florida with lower-body injury.

The Blues already had to play with a goalie short, when they used emergency backup goalie Kyle Konin for a game in Tampa last week against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they look like they will now have to play one skater short on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers in a rematch from Saturday's matinee.

Robert Thomas is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, according to Blues coach Craig Berube, and Vladimir Tarasenko took a maintenance day off from Monday's practice, and the Blues had just 19 skaters on the ice, including forward James Neal, who is on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

The Blues put out a release saying Thomas will not play Tuesday, although Berube didn't say specifically he's out for the game, just that he's out and day to day.

The Blues are already missing David Perron (upper body), Neal and Klim Kostin (upper body), who is also on LTIR, due to injuries, and goalie Jordan Binnington, forward Tyler Bozak and defenseman Justin Faulk in COVID-19 protocol, they're down six regulars from the lineup and being pressed up against the salary cap ceiling, having used the LTIR cap pool and no room for call-ups, the Blues will be faced with a situation where they will have to play a skater short a game before being able to call someone up from Springfield of the American Hockey League making the league minimum ($750,000) plus $100,000, so someone that counts $850,000 against the cap or lower.

"Forwards are going to get a lot of ice time," Berube said. "That's the bottom line. You've got to play smart. You're shorthanded, we've got to play smart. You  can't force things, you've got to have real good line changes, you've got to keep your shifts short. All that will play a big part of it all, discipline, staying out of the penalty box. We don't need to be killing a lot of penalties. It's all that stuff that needs to add up. Then you go out and compete, you compete hard, you work hard, you give yourself a chance."

Thomas, who has 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) in 24 games, would be a gut-punch loss, even for a game, if that's all he needs. The young center iceman, in his fourth season in the NHL, has blossomed into a premium player for the Blues. But Berube said the injury bothing him is something that's been "lingering."

"It's a lingering thing that's been going on for a little bit," Berube said. "He's fought through it and now it's time, he needs the rest."

The Blues went through a practice Monday running just three lines.

"Was there 19 (skaters) out there," Berube asked wryly. "You've got to limit what you do, you've got to keep it short. I thought it was a good, productive practice. There's some things we'd like to do more and work on, but really, you've got to be careful. You've got low numbers. But it was good, the guys worked hard, got what we wanted to get accomplished. That's it, move on."

Bozak has been out since last Tuesday and would be the first COVID-related skater to return, which could be at some point by the end of this week. Binnington and Faulk were put on protocol last Thursday, meaning they wouldn't be available until sometime next week at the earliest.

As for Perron, who hasn't played since sustaining concussion-like symptoms against the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 26 and has missed the past four games, there is some encouraging news.

"Doing OK," Berube said of Perron. "I feel good about him. I think he's coming along. I think we've just got to play it by ear. I'm not going to assume anything or predict anything. It's just he's doing OK."

In the meantime, the Blues (12-8-4) will have to trudge along with what they have.

"It's tough, but I think every team kind of goes through something like this at some point, especially this year and last year," defenseman Jake Walman said. "We had instances where guys get out (of the lineup) and it's out of our control. We've just got to roll with the punches. We have a deep team, like I've always said. Guys can step in and we're strong that way."

Husso, Brown, Joshua shine for Blues in 4-3 shootout loss

Goalie makes career-best 48 saves; Brown scores, Joshua picks up 

assist helping fuel zone time against Panthers with six players out of lineup

By LOU KORAC
In the end, it was a point, a hard-earned point in a 4-3 shootout loss for the Blues against the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon at FLA Live Arena, but taking everything into consideration with injuries and lack of players because of COVID-19 protocol, the Blues will take it.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues goalie Ville Husso (35) stood tall on Saturday against the Florida

Panthers in a 4-3 shootout loss, making a career-high 48 saves.

What the Blues (12-8-4) won't like is giving up another late third-period goal that helped determine the outcome of a game, but when they look at the situation and think of how well goalie Ville Husso played and how Logan Brown played in his third game as well as Dakota Joshua, the Blues will feel good about the depth guys they're using and helping them collect points in a time when they're missing David Perron, Tyler Bozak, Jordan Binnington, Justin Faulk, James Neal and Klim Kostin.

Defenseman Jake Walman also stepped in in a pinch to contribute his second NHL goal.

"I think it's a good opportunity for everybody to step in," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "We have a deep team where everyone can step in and up their game and do their part. It's good to see everybody stepping up there. Obviously tough not to get the two points, but we've just got to keep working and getting better. Good things will happen."

Husso started games in the NHL for the first time in a back to back situation. And he didn't disappoint. The Finn made a career-best 48 saves after facing 51 shots, several of the clutch variety and has stood tall in light of Binnington being out because of COVID.

"It's two games in a row I thought he played really well," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Held us in there today and gave us a chance to win."

Parayko added, "He played unbelievable. Obviously he made some big saves, gave us a chance to get two points. It was good to see obviously."

Husso and the Blues were on the verge of gaining a valuable two points but had one taken away when Maxim Mamin tied the game with 2:34 remaining off a quick zone draw win by Florida and quick shot by Mamim over Husso's glove hand.

"I would like to have that one back, even the first one too," Husso said. "I think I was there and just good shot goes in, but I would like to get that back."

They had a chance in the shootout as well all because of a penalty kill pulled off by Ryan O'Reilly, Oskar Sundqvist and Robert Bortuzzo, who played the final 1:16 without his stick after tossing it aside because it was broken. 

The Panthers, who had a 4-on-3 advantage, held the puck in the Blues' zone nearly the entire time until the waning seconds, but it was essentially a 4-on-2 with Bortuzzo playing with no stick, but the big Blues defenseman was throwing his body around trying to do anything he could to prevent a scoring chance. He went to the ice an astounding 13 times to block a shot, block a pass attempt, break up a play, anything in order to keep Florida from scoring.

"It's unreal," Berube said. "He finds a way to get it done. That's the bottom line, which he did. He does whatever he can."

"I wish we could have got a win for those three guys who were out there at the end for the PK," Husso said. "They battled so hard. Bobbo without the stick too. That just tells how we are a team and we play for each other. I wish we would have got the extra point.

"'Bobbo' played pretty well (without a stick) how he was on the ice position-wise. They made it easy for me. I think they didn't get a shot. 'O'Ry', 'Sunny' and 'Bobbo', they played it out. It was easy for me."

Amazingly, with Brayden Schenn in the box for tripping with 1:57 left in the OT, the Panthers did not register a shot on goal. The Blues in fact outshot the Panthers 1-0 when O'Reilly's dump-in from center ice in the final seconds of OT was the lone shot on goal on either end.

"It's a long minute or whatever it would have been with no stick there, but obviously 4-on-3 is tough itself," Parayko said. "I think we had one last overtime as well that we killed off. We were confident. Good players out there that can make good reads and getting in front of shots and making blocks. Obviously Husso made some saves. All in all, we were confident, never what you're obviously looking for in overtime, but we had the right guys out there who were there for the job and they got it done."

It came down to the skills competition, which the Blues lost 2-1, essentially giving the Panthers (17-4-3) the extra point, but the lone scorer for the Blues was non other than Logan Brown, playing in his third game in his hometown and doing it well.

Brown, who scored to get the Blues on the board 1-0 in the first period, his second goal in three games since he was called up from Springfield of the American Hockey League, finished with 10:23 ice time, three shots on goal and three blocks. He and Joshua, who played 8:43 and picked up his first NHL assist on Brown's goal, helped fuel the small amounts of drive time in the offensive zone the Blues had on a consistent basis.

"They were great," Berube said. "I thought that they probably had the best offensive zone shifts tonight because they were physical and heavy on pucks and really that's what it boiled down to. And really (Ivan) Barbashev too. I thought 'Barby' had a good game. I double-shifted 'Barby' with them most of the game and well-deserved."

Berube thought as much as to use Brown in the shootout, and he went in the second round to go forehand, backhand and roof a shot in over Sergei Bobrovsky.

"He had a great game," Berube said of Brown. "I thought he played really well. I've been told he's good in shootouts down there (in Springfield), he's got a good move, so I used him."

A disappointing result considering Husso, whose previous career-high in saves was 34 earlier this season in a 3-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Kings, deserved the win for his performance more than anything.

"It was a tight game. Kind of disappointing," Husso said. "We had the lead at the end and it was like two minutes left and they tie the game. We get one point and we need to look at the positive side.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Dakota Joshua (54) celebrates with Logan Brown (22) after Brown scored in

the first period of a 4-3 shootout loss against Florida on Saturday.

"... I didn't really think it was that many shots, but I was just focusing for the next puck. I felt fine there."

With Binnington likely to miss at least four more games, perhaps five, Husso will have his heaviest workload ever in the NHL. And so far, he hasn't disappointed.

"Unfortunately, 'Binner' is out now. Hopefully I'll get a lot of games and I need to step up and play at a good level every night," Husso said. "It's nice to get some back to back games. I haven't played those in a while. I think it's easier for me to get dialed in right away for games when you play back to back games."

"Obviously he's a very good goaltender," Parayko said. "I feel like he's a really sound goalie. I 

don't know a ton about goaltending, but he just always seems to be in the right position, makes it look easy. I feel like when you're doing that, it's when the pucks are always hitting you. He's just a good goalie overall. Glad to see him playing well."

(12-2-21) Blues-Lightning Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
It's never a dull moment in the world these days, but more specifically for the Blues, truer words were never more accurate.

It's been a COVID-19 world everyone is living in, and for the Blues, add goalie Jordan Binnington to a list that won't seem to go away. 

After forward Tyler Bozak joined a growing list that made him the seventh player this season to be affected by a positive test, Binnington was added to it on Thursday before the Blues' rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning (12-5-4) today at 6 p.m. at Amalie Arena (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

* UPDATE -- And puck drop, the Blues also added defenseman Justin Faulk to the COVID protocol list.

That's not even the whole story here; it's a big enough story in itself, but the back end is even better because the Blues (12-7-3), who beat the Lightning 4-3 in shootout at home Tuesday, rallying from a 3-0 deficit, need a backup goalie and had it all set that Charlie Lindgren was being called up from Springfield of the American Hockey League, but due to cap constraints (will explain below), the Blues are not able to recall Lindgren until Friday and will use an emergency backup goalie tonight. His name is Kyle Konin, a 23-year-old whose most recent past experience was playing college hockey for Grand Valley State in 2019-20.

Konin had a 2.75 goals-against average and .904 save percentage with Grand Valley State in 19-20 and will serve as the backup to starter Ville Husso against the Lightning.

"Craig [Berube] and I talked to him about 20 minutes ago," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said Thursday. "Had a good conversation. He had a morning skate today with his beer league guys and he said he was on fire and ready to go, so we're excited to have him in here and he's excited."

Berube said of Konin, "He's excited. Seemed like a decent, nice guy. We'll meet him tonight when we come back for the game and he'll be here, get him introduced to everybody and feeling comfortable. It'll be fun. It'll be great experience for him. I've never met the guy, just talked to him on the phone briefly. He seemed like a real good guy."

Under the collective bargaining agreement rules and with the Blues up against the salary cap ceiling, according to article 50.10 (e) of the CBA, in order for them to make a roster move, they have to play one game with one player fewer than 18 skaters and two goalies in order for them not to be affected by the cap and make a recall without making a corresponding roster move. 

Also, Joel Hofer, recalled earlier this season when Husso was out because of COVID, has a roster bonus that would push the Blues over the cap ceiling, thus eliminating him from a call-up without the Blues making a roster move to make cap space, so they have to play Thursday without Lindgren, who is making the league minimum of $750,000, before recalling him on Friday.

And since the Blues have James Neal and Klim Kostin on long-term injured reserve and cannot use the LTIR cap money, this is the avenue they must take.

"It's just one of those things you just have to roll with because we have [David] Perron (upper-body injury) out ... our injuries and our COVID [Tyler Bozak] and then another COVID, we don't have the cap space to bring a guy up for tonight and under league rules, we'll use Tampa's emergency guy and tomorrow we'll bring up Charlie," Armstrong said. "... It's cap-related.

"Under the league rules, you're allowed to call up the goalie after you go with an emergency for one game. A goalie making league minimum plus $100,000. Because we're in LTIR on other players, Hof's bonuses count against him, so he's over the legal limit to call him up and also Charlie is playing well. It's really a pick 'em right now, so we're excited to give him an opportunity with our group."

Lindgren, who has played well with Springfield with an 8-1-1 record, a 2.16 GAA and .925 save percentage, makes the minimum, but Hofer has a cap hit of $795,000 plus a performance bonus that puts him at a $910,333 average annual value hit, and put him over the $850,000 total threshold.

"CBA rules is once you play short one game, you can recall another guy," Armstrong said. "You can recall a guy at the league minimum, plus ($100,000). So we'll have to play with Kyle tonight and knock on wood, he'll remain a 60-minute cheerleader and we'll go from there."
Binnington, who will miss a minimum of 10 days, is the eighth player and Faulk became the ninth the Blues have put in COVID protocol this season, joining Brandon Saad, Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Clifford, Husso, Torey Krug, Niko Mikkola and Bozak, who is currently on COVID-19 protocol who will miss a second game Thursday.

"It's nothing new for us," said Krug, who missed five games from Nov. 7-14. "Obviously we just hope he's feeling good and healthy and doesn't have too many side effects or anything. Obviously second to that, we've just got to prepare like we normally do. 'Huus' has been playing great this year and he's going to step in and do the job for us and we're going to play good in front of him. Just like another situation that we've got to face with, deal with.

"It's just a mentality, right? Realizing that at any given moment, someone could go down and be out for 10 days, realizing it could be any guy on your roster. Obviously everyone plays an important role. Starting goaltender's a big one for us and at any given moment, someone else, someone new is going to have to step in and fill the void. That's why GM's prepare the rosters the way they do so that they can overcome things like that, especially in a year like this where there's so many uncertainties. You just look to realize every day when you wake up that something else might be different and you just got to take care of yourself and do your job the best to your ability because next guy in line's got to do the same thing.

"I don't know if I've been around an emergency backup situation. It'll be new for me, but obviously its got to be fun for those guys to come in, dress in an NHL locker room, take warmups and sit on the bench. Pretty neat for him."

Berube said, "We don't like to hear that news, like any of our guys that got COVID this year. It's tough news to get, but Husso's played well, we trust him and rely on him so hopefully we'll get somebody up here soon for a backup, but we just move on boys, that's all we can do. We talked about going through this, it could go on the whole year with everything with this COVID. It's just another roadblock, but we've just got to get through it."

When asked about Konin and before Armstrong gave anyone a chance to ask for specific details, he laughed when he said, "You can do a Google research on him."

As for Husso, he will man the pipes for the next four or five games at the very least until Binnington is eligible to return, and even then, just like Husso, Binnington will need some days to get back on the ice and get his reps in.

"He's done a really good job," Berube said of Husso, who is 3-1-0 with a 1.76 GAA and .936 save percentage this season. "Right from training camp, it's paid off. He's come into this year and played well, he's done a good job, working hard in practice, his practices have been really good. We'll just go on from there. We're just going to worry about tonight's game. That's it."

- - -

Meanwhile other than Husso, the Blues will keep the same lineup from Tuesday's game, meaning they will use 11 forwards and seven defenseman for a third straight game trying to defeat the Lightning for a sixth straight matchup.

Forward Pavel Buchnevich has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) the past 12 games and has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak, while forward Ivan Barbashev has four goals in a three-game goal-scoring streak.

Robert Thomas, who has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) his past 11 games, explains how the Blues need to try to make it three wins in a row tonight.

"The biggest thing, we haven't got off to good starts," Thomas said, "but I think our resilience and our battle back has been our strong suit. If we can clean up those starts, it'll make it a lot easier on us. I think we've just got to keep going. The biggest thing is that resilience that's made us successful in the past and all the best teams have it. It's good to see we've got it and now it's just putting together that full 60 minutes."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Ryan O'Reilly-Jordan Kyrou

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Ivan Barbashev

Dakota Joshua-Logan Brown

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Niko Mikkola

Scott Perunovich-Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Walman

Ville Husso will start in goal; Kyle Konin will be the backup.

The Blues have no healthy scratches. David Perron (upper body), James Neal (upper body) and Klim Kostin (upper body) are out. Jordan Binnington, Tyler Bozak and Justin Faulk are out due to COVID-19 protocol.

- - -

The Lightning's projected lineup:

Ondrej Palat-Steven Stamkos-Alex Barre-Boulet

Alex Killorn-Anthony Cirelli-Gabriel Fortier

Pat Maroon-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Corey Perry

Boris Katchouk-Ross Colton-Taylor Raddysh

Victor Hedman-Jan Rutta

Ryan McDonagh-Zach Bogosian

Mikhail Sergachev-Erik Cernak

Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in goal; Brian Elliott will be the backup.

The healthy scratch will be Cal Foote. Brayden Point (upper body), Nikita Kucherov (lower body), Mathieu Joseph (lower body) and Gemel Smith (lower body) are out.