(2-25-20) Blackhawks-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- For the second year in a row, the Blues stood pat.

Well, not exactly, but they made no significant changes to their roster leading into the NHL trade deadline, which came and went on Monday at 2 p.m. 

Last year, the Blues acquired defenseman Michael Del Zotto for depth on the blue line. This year, they made their deadline acquisition a week ago today when they brought in defenseman Marco Scandella from Montreal for two draft picks.

And with one more addition in waiting, the Blues (36-17-10), who host the Chicago Blackhawks (27-27-8) at 7 p.m. (NBCSN, ESPN 101.1-FM), hope Vladimir Tarasenko's return soon will be the key ingredient needed to help make another push to the finish.

"We’re excited about our positioning heading into the final stretch," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "The trade deadline has passed, this is our team, we’re excited about what they’ve accomplished thus far.

"... We had conversations with teams but nothing really transpired. We were excited about the group we had, obviously excited about Vladi coming back. We’ve been pushing the upper limits of the cap all year with being on LTI, basically since Vladi went and we’ll end the season in LTI with Jay Bouwmeester on it."

The Blues, who have won four in a row and outscored their opponents 13-2, have put together a run that basically told Armstrong that they like this group as is, and are glad the deadline is over and are glad to have the team kept in tact.

"It think we're confident. I think we know when we play our best hockey, we're as good as anyone in this League. It's nice to see the confidence in Army that we can do it, and we believe we can too, so it's a good thing.

"... At this time, new players can change up a lot of things. I think it's nice that, last year was the same kind of thing. We know it's got to come from everyone in this room that's pretty much been here all year. Everyone's got a good feel for each other and same thing for this year. It's nice that they know where everyone kind of sits. We know what's there, we know how hard we have to work and we know each other, and I think that's something big we know that's going down and it gives us that confidence."

Added forward Brayden Schenn, who was a proponent last week of keeping the group in tact.

"Yeah, perfect," Schenn said. "This is kind of the situation we were in last year and you add obviously a big piece with Scandella coming in and I think he's going to help us and obviously he's played extremely well so far, but other than that, stay put and guys are playing good hockey, guys are playing well for one another. There's a thing obviously about team chemistry too where you don't want to mess with it too much and we believe in this group and this locker room.

"You never know. There's hockey deals yesterday, and there's guys that get traded for picks and prospects. It works either way. There's trades out there where guys don't expect to be thrown in too. That's just the reality of the game, the business of the game. As players, it's never an easy day. You never know what's going to happen, but once it's all said and done, we're ready to go and play some hockey now."

- - -

Getting Tarasenko back, and the confidence that it will at some point here become fruition, spearheaded the timeline of what the Blues were going to do, or in this case, not do.

Once he returns, Tarasenko's $7.5 million cap hit goes back on the books, and in this case, all but wipes out what the Blues had allocated left in terms of what they could use to spend elsewhere.

"We like our team. It’s been successful. We’re deep," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We got a lot of guys that have bought in here, playing here. Their roles, things like that. That’s important stuff. We added Scandella. He’s done a great job so far, I think he’s fit in really well. We’re not trying to incorporate new players and find roles for people and things like that. So on that side of things, it’s good.

"That’s like adding obviously a trade, a big-time trade [Tarasenko]. He’s a great player and he’s working hard. He feels good. So we’re excited when he can be back."

As are the players.

"If you look at a deadline decision like that and him coming back is a huge impact for us and makes us so much better," O'Reilly said. "With having that and bringing him back into the fold, it only strengthens us. It will be nice to have him back.

"When you see him on the ice, it's nice to be out there skating with him again. He's such a big piece to this team and such a threat. Just having him around and getting back into that routine with us again is very, very nice."

Tarasenko has played in 10 games this season (three goals, seven assists) but has been sidelined since dislocating his left shoulder Oct. 24 against the Los Angeles Kings. He had his surgery five days later and an original timeline of re-evaluation was five months.

"We haven't really practiced. He's been around for pregame skates and stuff like that," Schenn said of Tarasenko. "It's 10-15 minutes and he kind of does stuff on his own or wharever guys are out there, but I just think for this locker room, for him, to have him around, show that he's somewhat close to being ready to play and obviously he's a huge piece to our team moving forward, we want to get him some games here before the regular season's over and build his game going into the playoffs."

The key for Tarasenko will be when he's able to start getting banged around, taking hits in practice by his teammates. He can do all the cardio with his legs and lower body he wants, but until the upper body starts taking some contact, it's a moot point.

"I think that’s a day to day thing," Armstrong said. "The first step is get him out on the ice with the players. It’s going to be difficult the rest of the year. In today’s NHL, there’s not many practices. For the players that are playing, you’re trying to conserve their energy, lot of optionals on the day in between games and morning skates, and the morning skate, it’s get your legs and your heart going, there’s no physical play. The pushing and prodding is going to have to come from assistant coaches or black aces as it goes on. That’s something that’s documented by our training staff. Let’s do this, let’s go to that level. I can’t say next Tuesday we’re going to take him in a corner and do this drill with him. It’s something they feel as they’re going on when he can tolerate the next level of training."

How many games he'd like to see him play? Armstrong would like to see the run of them all, but that's not remotely possible, so as many as they can would be ideal.

"I would like to see him get in more than three or four," Armstrong said. "He affects so many different parts of our team, not only our five-on-five play but we have a power play that’s consistently in the top five. Vladi affects that. He affects how Craig and Marc Savard are going to use their players. We want to find a balance of maybe – I don’t want to coach the team – do they load up one unit or go to two more equal units. Our second unit, quite honestly, has been carrying a lot of that lately with Parayko on there. He’s producing offense. We’ve seen our second unit perform as well as our first unit lately. Vladi’s going to have an effect on all of that stuff. Also, where he plays in our five-on-five play. Ideally I’d like to see him get 20 games, that’s not going to happen, closer to 20 than three, I’d be happy."

- - -

Before all was known about Tarasenko's status, the Blues were rumored as one of the destinations for New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who wound up resigning with the Blueshirts, getting a seven-year contract worth $6.5 million per season.

But once the Blues knew Tarasenko would be returning, that notion was squashed immediately.

"The interest level waned quite honestly when we knew Vladi was coming back," Armstrong said. "In a different world, if I was managing the St. Louis Blues in the late 90's, we would have been really interested because it’s only the owner’s money and I wouldn’t care about it. But there’s a salary cap situation that’s in place now. To bring Kreider in, knowing that Vladi’s coming back, we would have to remove 'X' amount of millions of dollars of contract to do that and we weren’t willing to go deep into our core group of upsetting the chemistry we had for a potential short term thing. Now, am I surprised he stayed as a Ranger? Not at all. Players every year are in a situation where they have to decide if they’re comfortable where they’re at or do they want to explore free agency .We saw that the young man that went to the Islanders from Ottawa, he had a contract with Ottawa, he wasn’t comfortable with that and he went to the Islanders. I’m sure Kreider had the same feeling, am I comfortable with the Rangers, do I like the city, do I enjoy the camaraderie with the team. I don’t want to speak for Kreider and the Rangers, I imagine he believes in what John Davidson and Jeff Gorton have going there, that the turnaround is going to come quicker, I’m not surprised he stayed."

Armstrong said for the Blues to alter the current roster, it would only likely be done through hockey trades, and although they were talked about, those are hard to make this time of year.

"We talked to different teams," Armstrong said. "Part of it is a hockey trade that makes you better is something you’re always looking to do. I think when you’re in a situation with ours, how we finished last season, how we’ve played this year, I think the chemistry comes into the equation a little bit more than if you’re fighting for that last playoff spot or you’re out or you’re in that quagmire at the bottom. You’re willing to disrupt chemistry to take a leap moving forward. We did talk hockey trades but I didn’t see anything that made us significantly better to jeopardize any chemistry issues that we had. That being said, change happens in hockey, there wasn’t anything that made us move to the level of “We want to disrupt our core group to make a change."

- - -

Forward Tyler Bozak will return after missing the past two games with a foot injury, one in which he blocked a shot in the 1-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes last Thursday.

Bozak skated Sunday in the morning skate at Minnesota but couldn't go; he skated this morning and feels good.

"It felt good this morning, but I just don't know how it will kind of react to the skating and stuff," Bozak said. "I haven't been on the ice much lately, so we'll see how that goes.

"Hopefully can go tonight. We'll see how it feels the rest of the day.

"Yeah, with what time of year it is and everything, I think it's best to kind of heal up as much as you can obviously for the late push of the season and we've got a ton of depth. So whenever guys go out, there's lots of guys that can step in and do the job."

With Bozak's return, Mackenzie MacEachern will be a healthy scratch.

Oskar Sundqvist, who has taken maintenance days the past number of morning skates but has played, was once again off the ice today but will play tonight.

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jaden Schwartz-Ryan O'Reilly-Brayden Schenn

Zach Sanford-Robert Thomas-David Perron

Alexander Steen-Oskar Sundqvist-Jordan Kyrou

Ivan Barbashev-Tyler Bozak-Sammy Blais

Carl Gunnarsson-Alex Pietrangelo

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Justin Faulk

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Jake Allen will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Robert Bortuzzo, Jacob de la Rose, Mackenzie MacEachern and Troy Brouwer. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) and Jay Bouwmeester (cardiac episode) are out.

- - -

The Blackhawks' projected lineup:

Dominik Kubalik-Jonathan Toews-Drake Caggiula

Brandon Saad-Ryan Carpenter-Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat-Kirby Dach-Dylan Strome

Matthew Highmore-David Kampf-Alex Nylander

Duncan Keith-Slater Koekkoek

Nick Seeler-Connor Murphy

Olli Maatta-Adam Boqvist

Corey Crawford will start in goal; Malcolm Subban will be the backup. 

The healthy scratch will be Lucas Carlsson. Calvin de Haan (shoulder), Brent Seabrook (shoulder/hips), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol) and Zack Smith (back) are out.

Blues named opponent for Wild in 2021 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic

Game will be St. Louis' second on Jan. 1 at Twins' Target Field; 

hosted 2017 game at Busch Stadium against Blackhawks

By LOU KORAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Alex Pietrangelo seemed surprised. Brayden Schenn heard the news earlier in the morning. Jordan Binnington is stoked about it.

Good times and good happenings keep occurring for the Blues, who were announced after the first period of Sunday's 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center as the Wild's opponent next January in the 2021 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins.

The Wild were announced earlier this month as the Winter Classic host, and with the Blues in town for a nationally televised game on NBCSN Sunday night made for the right scenario to announce them as the opponent, which had been speculated for weeks.

"We're going back? I had no idea," Pietrangelo said, who then was told "Well, you know now."

"Where is it," he asked. 

"Target Field," he was told.

"That's pretty cool," Pietrangelo said.

It will be the second Winter Classic and outdoor game for the Blues, who were the hosts to the 2017 Winter Classic at Busch Stadium, when they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1.

"It was pretty cool (in 2017), such a spectacle for us," Pietrangelo said. "Obviously I’m a big baseball fan, so being at Busch (Stadium) was pretty special. Anytime you have a chance to play in these games, it’s such a big event ... the league does such a good job of making it a big event. It’s fun for us, it’s something different. We all grew up on those outdoor rinks, so to make it a reality at this level is pretty special.

"I think the cool part for us (in 2017), you had the family day before, guys were bringing their kids out and wives, and dads and moms ... all the stuff, it all kind of leads into it. It’s probably one of the best memories I have so far playing in a game other than winning (the Stanley Cup) last year."

The Blues have done quite well for themselves in recent years, with hosting the Winter Classic, winning their first Stanley Cup last year, hosting the NHL All-Star Game in January at Enterprise Center to now getting the nod for a second outdoor game.

For Schenn, it will be his third. He played for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012 at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, and in 2017, played with the Flyers against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stadium Series at Heinz Field.

"Yeah, I found out this morning. Obviously there’s rumblings and rumors," Schenn said. "I’ve had a chance to play in one Winter Classic and one outdoor game. Every time they’re fun for us and friends and family and you go outside and feel like a kid on the pond again and just embrace it."

Jake Allen was the goalie of record for the Blues in their win against the Blackhawks. For Binnington, this will be his first outdoor game.

"That’s really cool," Binnington said. "That’s a great experience from what I’ve heard, the guys experiencing it before. It’s a lot of fun and Minnesota is a great hockey city. I think it will be a lot of fun.

"No, never played outside, so that will be a new experience. We’ll see ... it’s a long ways away, but it’s a cool opportunity for the Blues."

There were multiple candidates for the opponent, namely the Winnipeg Jets, who geographically are the closest to Minnesota, and perhaps another rising Central Division foe, the Colorado Avalanche, who just recently hosted the Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series at the Air Force Academy's Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colo. But the Blues' recent success likely played a role in their invitation again, and it speaks volumes to how far the franchise has come.

"Yeah maybe. I think Busch Stadium is a staple in Major League Baseball," Pietrangelo said. "I think now what we accomplished last year, now maybe we’re on the national stage a bit more than we were before. So, we'll gladly take that.

"It’s going to be cold. I mean it was raining in St. Louis (in 2017) so I guess you never really know. I guess we’ll take our chances."

Blues doing best to keep management from altering roster after fourth straight win, 4-1 over Wild

Trade deadline looms Monday at 2 p.m. (CT), St. Louis is playing best 

hockey again, looking to make repeat run at Cup with current group

By LOU KORAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A fourth consecutive win, this time over a tough Minnesota Wild team on home ice at Xcel Energy Center, was a loud and clear message by the Blues to general manager Doug Armstrong: they want to keep this team in tact.

The Blues' 4-1 win here on Sunday night was their fourth win in a row and leaves them in first place in the Western Conference and Central Division at 36-17-10, good for 82 points, or three more than the Colorado Avalanche and four more than the Dallas Stars.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Brayden Schenn, who scored in a 4-1 win at Minnesota on

Sunday, feels the Blues just need to play hockey and let management make

the roster decisions. 

The Blues, who got goals from Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn, Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev (shorthanded), and Jordan Binnington made 32 saves and was one wonky, flopper of a goal from a third straight shutout, can't make those managerial decisions upstairs, but they can help so with their play on the ice. 

They know Vladimir Tarasenko is working his tail off to return and they feel this is a good enough group to do this Stanley Cup thing again.

"If you look at the trade deadline every year, there's lots of rumors, lots of talk," Schenn said. "At the end of the day, it's out of our control. We have to go out there and play and worry about winning hockey games, and if they make moves, they make moves. We're not sitting in the office going over decisions. We come out here and play hockey and that's all we can worry about.

"We're in first place. We went in a stretch there where we're still in first place. We're fighting for first place. I'm sure they feel in that office that we have a chance to do it again. It's not easy, but we're a veteran team that's finding ways to win."

The Blues have outscored their opponents 13-2 during their four-game winning streak, and if those can remember this time a year ago, Armstrong saw the momentum the group finally built up after an underachieving start and made one move, acquiring defenseman Michael Del Zotto from Anaheim for a 2019 sixth-round pick to help fortify the defensive group.

That's it, and that was enough.

There will be players open for sale Monday, New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider at the top of the list who will come at a heavy price, but is that a price the Blues would be willing to pay? At this point, probably not. There are others that won't come by such a heavy price, but this is why Armstrong and his management team have been hunkered down in their offices the past few days making these decisions.

Do they believe this group constructed as is, is good enough to make a run at a repeat title? 

Armstrong replenished the defensive group again when he traded for Marco Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens for a 2020 second-round pick and 2021 conditional fourth-round pick.

Time will tell whether the roster changes, but Blues coach Craig Berube likes his group as is and is all for seeing it in tact come Tuesday.

"I do, yeah, it's a good team," Berube said. "I think Scandella has been a great addition. He's looking really good out there, looks like he fits in with [Colton] Parayko very well. So it's a nice addition to have. You know, we've got good depth.

"Yeah, I mean we feel ... we're a good team and we know that. There's still a lot of hockey left and we've got to keep trying to get better. I think we're doing that. I think our guys are dialed into doing that."

The players know they can't make the decisions that management make, but they can help dictate the decision with the play on the ice, and right now, that play is dictating the needle to getting Tarasenko back, and going for it full bore again.

"When we're getting Vladi back, it's going to be like getting a completely new player in," Sundqvist said. "I don't feel like we need any changes. We're starting to find our game and we're a tight group in here, especially in the d-zone. We're finding our roles and that's important now and during the whole season.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues players (pictured from left) Alexander Steen, Marco Scandella and

Oskar Sundqvist celebrate a goal Sunday in a 4-1 win over Minnesota.

"... I think we've done that the last week here. We had a tough period there, but we started turning things around. I think it's starting to look good."

Good enough to keep the roster in tact? Those decisions will come down at 2 p.m. central time on Monday.

"We've got a good group of guys. We'll see what happens," Binnington said. "We all get along and we all understand our roles and that's important. We play hard for each other and we're selfless. Hopefully we can keep growing as a team."

(2-23-20) Blues-Wild Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Blues will play their final game before Monday's trade deadline with a chance to make it four straight wins against the Minnesota Wild (6:30 p.m.; NBCSN, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The Blues (35-17-10) have a one-point lead on the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Western Conference and Central Division and four points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who the Blues beat 5-1 on Friday and who play the Chicago Blackhawks this afternoon.

St. Louis has allowed one goal in its part three games, with 3 minutes 33 seconds remaining on Friday, and have really tightened things up on the defensive end after a winless stretch of five games (0-3-2) and a 2-6-3 mark in which the Blues had allowed three goals or more in each game. They've gone four straight in which they've allowed two or fewer now and three in total.

"We have tightened things up," Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson. "I don't know what it is, but it's been clicking. The forechecking, and also for the D, it's been the forwards tracking back. It's a huge part of it, allows us to be tight and everything just comes from that. Just working hard for each other.

"Not all (the credit), but you've got to give it to (the forwards). It kind of bleeds down. We've got 2-on-2's or whatever, 2-on-1's and you get a backcheck and wonder how that happened. Sometimes the forwards get caught on the wrong side of things. Last couple games, they've been tremendous coming back backchecking and allowing us to be tight and that kind of feeds our offense too."

Defenseman Marco Scandella, playing in his third game with the Blues, sees just that.

"I feel like it's a very structured game," Scandella said. "Easy to read off each other, a lot of pressure. Fits into my game.

"The forwards help out tremendously and then even offensive zone holding onto pucks, but they're tracking really hard helping us out, making those reads a lot easier knowing that there's back pressure and it's a lot tougher for the opposing team. It allows us to have those good gaps and if you do get beat or get a piece of the guy, you have a guy tracking really hard and helping you out. I feel like just a really good team game overall."

When forwards backcheck, it enables the defensemen to really hold firm and stand their lines, which coach Craig Berube said is key.

"That's what kills a lot of plays," Berube said. "When they're not, then they're going to see numbers coming at you and back in. 

"It goes together. When we're playing as five-man units like that together, we're tight defensively, we're a pretty solid team."

- - -

The Blues will get one key member back in the lineup tonight, as defenseman Alex Pietrangelo returns after missing Friday due to illness.

"He should be good to go tonight," Berube said. "He's fine. He got some good rest yesterday, so he's good to go."

Pietrangelo, who leads all Blues defensemen in goals (13), assists (34) and points (47), will step in for Robert Bortuzzo, who was solid Friday playing the second-most minutes of the season for him against Dallas at 18:19.

"He did a good job, I thought he was a good player," Berube said of Bortuzzo. "He's physical and moved the puck well. Him and [Vince] Dunn have good chemistry together, which is nice. They go play together and we moved [Justin] Faulk up with Gunnarsson and they looked good. All the D played well in a tough game. That's a tough game."

Forward Tyler Bozak, who also missed Friday with a lower-body injury, will miss a second straight game and is day-to-day. 

Bozak took the ice before the morning skate but left early, and Berube said it's nothing long term.

"He just said he wanted to go and try it and I saw him out there and he didn't look good, so I just said, 'Go off,'" Berube said. "We've got guys that are healthy. We don't need him to go in there unhealthy and play."

Forward Oskar Sundqvist was not on the ice for the morning skate, but Berube said he's good to play.

- - -

Speaking of Scandella, it's his 30th birthday today and he got a free meal out of it Saturday night with a bunch of former Wild teammates, including Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin. 

Scandella, who was acquired from Montreal on Tuesday for a 2020 second-round pick and conditional 2021 fourth-round pick, spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career with the Wild before being traded to Buffalo in 2017.

"I went for dinner with Dumba and a few buddies from back here," Scandella said. "It's my birthday today, so they picked it up. I know all those guys. I was there for seven years. It's always fun playing against them. 

"It feels like home. I've been back three times since I got traded in 2017, the summer of '17. But it still feels like home. It's nice to be back here, it's a lot of fun. This is going to be a great building to play in. I always like coming back."

- - -

Vladmir Tarasenko, who is rehabbing from a dislocated left shoulder, is on the trip and took part in the morning skate today. It's his fourth straight team practice and fifth overall. 

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jaden Schwartz-Ryan O'Reilly-Brayden Schenn

Zach Sanford-Robert Thomas-David Perron

Alexander Steen-Oskar Sundqvist-Jordan Kyrou

Mackenzie MacEachern-Ivan Barbashev-Sammy Blais

Carl Gunnarsson-Alex Pietrangelo

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Justin Faulk

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Jake Allen will be the backup.

Healthy scratches would include Robert Bortuzzo and Jacob de la Rose. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Jay Bouwmeester (cardiac episode) and Tyler Bozak (lower body) are out.

- - -

The Wild's projected lineup:

Zach Parise-Eric Staal-Kevin Fiala

Marcus Foligno-Joel Eriksson Ek-Jordan Greenway

Alex Galchenyuk-Ryan Donato-Mats Zuccarello

Victor Rask-Mikko Koivu-Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter-Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin-Matt Dumba

Brad Hunt-Greg Pateryn

Devan Dubnyk will start in goal; Alex Stalock is the backup.

Healthy scratches include Gerald Mayhew and Louie Belpedio. Luke Kunin (upper body) and Carson Soucy (upper body) are out.

Kyrou still learning on the fly, gaining traction with playing experience in NHL

Offensively-gifted forward scored dazzling goal in Dallas Friday, grasping 

concept that patience, hard work will continue to grow second-round pick

By LOU KORAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It was not that long ago that Blues coach Craig Berube was dispensing some tough love upon Jordan Kyrou.

It's a situation where Berube and the coaching staff went through much of the same growing areas with Robert Thomas at times last season, and it's been Kyrou's turn to get a dose of reality and what life can be like getting your feet wet in the NHL.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Jordan Kyrou (33) moves the puck along in a recent game 

against Pavel Zacha (right) and the New Jersey Devils.

That tone changed on Tuesday when Berube thought Kyrou had played his best game against the New Jersey Devils, and for Kyrou, it's only 39 games into his NHL career.

The jury is still out on the 2016 second-round pick, and even though the ice time hasn't been reflective on Kyrou's recent play, the Toronto native seems to be grasping not just being a gifted offensive talent in this league, but one that can be more of a well-rounded player that will help push his career along the proper path.

He played just 9 minutes 21 seconds on Friday, the fewest of any skater in a 5-1 win against the Dallas Stars, but the effectiveness Kyrou, 21, left on the ice had people remembering the things he can do: skate, razzle and dazzle.

Ask Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who's still looking for his skates after Kyrou quickly darted around him and whipped a shot past Ben Bishop's blocker to give the Blues a 3-0 lead in the second period.

This is the kind of talent Kyrou possesses, and it's all about the speed and the skill. It's never been in question.

"Quick reaction. ... He's lethal," Blues forward Alexander Steen said of Kyrou. "He's been getting a lot of chances lately. It's a matter of time before those go in for him. It did tonight.

"Playing unbelievable hockey. Smart, quick, getting into holes. I think he's playing a lot tighter now to the other four trying to stay in the mix a little bit more. He's grown a lot. I think he's playing tremendous hockey right now, very smart hockey. He's playing a very mature game and he's getting rewarded for it.

"He's a smart kid."

That's the part that is starting to gain some steam, and the part that needs to continue to trend in the right direction, playing tighter and staying in plays, playing both ends of the ice, making smart decisions with and without the puck. 

Kyrou, who has been used to being 'the guy' at practically every level he's played at providing loads of offense, including back-to-back seasons with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League in 2016-17 and 2017-18 where he had seasons of 94 points (30 goals, 64 assists) and 109 points (39 goals, 70 assists), has had his share of learning curves; he's not used to being a healthy scratch, but here, he has been.

And when called upon, whether the Blues play him for nine minutes, or he gets those 13, 14, 15 minutes a night, the best way to gain more ice time is to keep making an impact in games.

"I'm just staying positive in my head," Kyrou said. "Obviously we have a really good team, so whenever I get out there, I just got to do what I can to help the team win. That's what I felt like I've been doing.

"(The) biggest thing for me right now is just focusing on just competing every single shift and just playing hard. That's the biggest thing me and Chief have talked about."

This is what Berube is known to do well, not just communicate in general, but communicate with young players and keep them from mentally and physically losing confidence. Instead of tearing their confidence down, Berube has been laying out a course of action for Kyrou, with that tough love in mind, but helping build this momentum that's been gaining steam the last handful of games or so.

"Yeah, he’s learning. He’s learning on the fly," Berube said of Kyrou. "We do things differently here than what he’s done in the past at other places and he’s learning. And he’s a smart kid.

"I thought he was good [Friday]. He made a nice play on the first goal for sure, and scoring that second goal. He’s hanging onto the puck. He’s battling for it. It was a heavy game tonight, so it was good to see him have a good game in this type of atmosphere tonight."

In the past three games, Kyrou's seen his scoring chances spike. He's put eight shots on goal and has dazzled with the puck on his stick to the point that has Blues fans on the edge of their seats.

"It feels good," Kyrou said. "I think the whole team has had a lot of chances the past couple games. We've run into some hot goalies. It was good for us to get that win today.

"The biggest thing is just compete. That's obviously what our team's built around. That's my biggest thing is just focusing on competing and winning the small areas on the ice."

Kyrou couldn't learn better those traits than playing with a couple grizzled vets like Steen and Tyler Bozak, who have played a combined 1,735 regular-season games.

"They talk to me a lot and it's definitely good to play with them," Kyrou said. "They're both really good players, really smart players so it's just easy to play with them.

"I don't really ask (them) questions. We just talk and communicate about stuff that's happening on the ice and just play as we can make stuff (happen).

"I definitely feel the more I play, the more comfortable I get obviously. Keep competing, keep competing and that builds confidence as well."

Steen said they tend to leave Kyrou alone and allow his game to evolve unless he asks.

"If it occurs, yeah, but he's an extremely smart kid," Steen said. "He's soaking everything in right now. Like I said, he's growing every day and it's really cool to see. I think his competitiveness has gone up and he's hungry. Today he got rewarded, great goal he scored today."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Jordan Kyrou (33) moves the puck past Winnipeg forward

Mason Appleton (82) in a recent game at Enterprise Center. 

Kyrou is not going to lobby for the ice time; he won't be the one knocking on Berube's door making the pitch to play more. That's something he can't control. What he can control is his worth ethic on the ice and being someone that the coaching staff notices on a regular basis moving forward, and that's why he needs to stay patient.

"It's tough, but I'm a young guy and all the young guys go through that and just got to realize that whenever I get out there, I've just got to play my game and play hard," Kyrou said. "That's the biggest thing. Stay positive and keep going.

"We've been playing real good hockey in the last five, six games. We just need to keep that up and keep competing, keep playing our game."

Kyrou's name has been brought up in the past in trade rumors, and not just this season with the trade deadline looming at 2 p.m. (CT) on Monday but in the past. General manager Doug Armstrong has been unwilling to move him in the past, and judging by his recent play, it'll make it tough for the Blues to move him now, or at any point.

No Pietrangelo, no Bozak, no problem for Blues in 5-1 win over Stars

Defending champs keep taking hits to key players, overcome losses with 

impressive responses, including one against team nipping at heels in standings

By LOU KORAC
DALLAS -- Depth.

It's a simple word. One that gets used quite a bit in sports, especially in hockey.

The Blues in particular. They've touted it for years in the organization, more so in recent years.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

With Alex Pietrangelo missing from the blue line Friday, Colton Parayko

(55) stepped in and filled the void with a goal and two assists in the Blues'

5-1 win over Dallas at American Airlines Center.

Heading into a Central Division showdown with first place on the line against the Dallas Stars without your captain and one of your underrated forwards -- and already missing your top goal scorer -- isn't a recipe that sets up well.

But these resilient Blues, who recently came off a rough patch in their season, overcame the losses of Alex Pietrangelo and Tyler Bozak. And it's already been known how they've persevered without Vladimir Tarasenko and have overcome the sudden loss of Jay Bouwmeester, who nearly suffered a tragic fate right before their very eyes just over a week ago.

Pietrangelo was a late scratch against the Stars due to illness, Bozak has a lower-body injury that coach Craig Berube said will be reevaluated on Saturday.

A loss, you say? Say again. They not only went into Big D and whipped the Stars, 5-1, on Friday night at American Airlines Center, they emphatically announced that just because the Blues can be a wounded animal at times, it doesn't mean they can't come to the battle front unprepared and without weapons.

The Blues plugged Robert Bortuzzo and Mackenzie MacEachern into the lineup and continued their string of good play since last weekend since a home-and-home with Nashville.

And who better to exude confidence in the players than Berube, who before the game wasn't the least bit worried that his leading minutes muncher (Pietrangelo) and veteran leader who is underrated in many things he does (Bozak)?

"We've had guys out all year," Berube said. "Like our top scorer's been out all year. We just play, go play. Guys will fill in and do the job. I thought Bortuzzo did a great job tonight coming in, physical, did a great job, penalty killing. He was solid all-around."

Bortuzzo, who took a back seat again when the Blues acquired Marco Scandella on Tuesday to fill a void left by Bouwmeester. Bortuzzo stepped in with Pietrangelo out and played 18:19, the second-most ice time on the season (18:32 vs. Anaheim on Jan. 13), and Parayko stepped into the top-pair role and along with Scandella, who was terrific for a second straight game, was a beast. Parayko matched a career-high with three points (one goal, two assists) in the game and was a one-man wrecking crew every time he stepped onto the ice.

"I think we have a next man up mentality," Parayko said. "Whoever's in, just make sure that they step up and just kind of fill the void and play that role. We've done a good job all year of that, even since I first got here, but it's just a next up mentality. Everyone kind of knows where they fit in their role and if everyone's doing their job, then we're going to set ourselves up for success.

"... It's not easy to take up those kind of minutes. Petro plays a lot of minutes. He plays obviously special teams, he logs a lot of minutes, which is tough to kind of fill that void. Kind of like I mentioned earlier, it's kind of a group effort back there from all six of us, and I thought we did a really good job. We did a good job. We rolled pretty much six deep for the whole game and it's nice when you can do that."

Oskar Sundqvist, who is referred to as one of the engines that drives the Blues, moved up to fill Bozak's role while MacEachern filled the role of a fourth-line guy, as he typically does. Don't overthink things, just be a complementary piece and things will fall into place, which is what happened.

But that next man up mentality has driven the Blues (35-17-10) to great heights.

"It's opportunity," said goalie Jake Allen, who made 18 of 19 saves and was 3:33 from the Blues' third straight shutout. "It's all about opportunity in this league. You've got to make the most of your chance if you want to stay in it. I think a lot of young guys are taking that chance. [Jordan] Kyrou, [Sammy] Blais, [Robert] Thomas, [Zach] Sanford, they've been playing great the last three or four games. Credit goes to them. Opportunity doesn't arise for everyone in a perfect spot, but you never know when it's going to come and you've got to make the most of it. When they do that, that benefits our team from myself out. It's been great to see."

Kyrou took advantage with a highlight reel goal an assist in limited minutes (9:21), Thomas had two assists, including one on Kyrou's goal where his backcheck and trip of the puck of Stephen Johns to set up the play, and Blais and Sanford keep setting their marks. Oh, and Jaden Schwartz joined the 20-goal club with David Perron, who scored his first in 10 games and 24th of the season Friday, and Brayden Schenn (20) with a goal and assist and Ryan O'Reilly had two assists.

How many teams out there can overcome the losses to such key guys that the Blues have? Not many, but it just speaks serious volumes to how the organization has built up a cache of players that go beyond those that are here. It goes to those that can come up from the American Hockey League, those that are drafted and groomed and those that are brought in from outside the organization that buy into the team concept.

"I think the way that we've been structured over the last few years has been our consistent game and the way we approach the game and how we've played with everybody on the squad and everybody knows the importance of their individual effort for the group to succeed," said Blues veteran forward Alexander Steen, who opened the scoring Friday 5:48 into the game. "Nothing really changes when guys go out. Obviously you don't want to see that, but when they do, we try as best as we can to adjust and keep moving forward."

In other words, there's no pity party, there's no oh woe is me attitude. Just step it up, put thw work boots on, come together and get a job done.

It's what championship pedigree is made of.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Jordan Kyrou (right) had a goal and an assist to help offset key players

missing from the Blues' lineup in a 5-1 win over Jamie Benn (14) and the 

Stars.

"It's a good win," Berube said. "We knew what was on the line. I didn't have to tell them, they just show up. They know."

Yes, the Blues do know. They knew perfectly well Dallas was nipping at their heels in not only the division but the conference, and disposed of them -- at least for one night -- by banding together. And they held an opponent to fewer than 20 shots for the third straight game.

"Obviously these are big games," said Parayko, who finished with 23:06 of ice time. "These are the fun ones. We kind of knew what was up for stake here. Obviously big game. They came into our building and beat us, so we wanted to make sure we got off to a good start and give ourselves a chance to win."

(2-21-20) Blues-Stars Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
DALLAS -- The second installment of a three-game series this month between the Blues and Dallas Stars goes today at 7:30 p.m. (FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

And after the Stars overcame a 2-0 deficit at Enterprise Center on Feb. 8 to pull out a 3-2 overtime win, it was their way of saying they have thrown their name in the hat for top spot in the Western Conference and Central Division.

The Blues (34-17-10), who bested the Arizona Coyotes 1-0 despite outshooting the 'Yotes 46-14 in a complete drubbing, except for Coyotes goalie Antti Raanta, who was a brick wall with 45 saves, lead the Stars (35-19-6) by two points and currently hold any tiebreaker in the NHL's new first tiebreaker, which is regulation wins, one the Blues own 27-24.

"They're a good team," Blues coach Craig Berube said of the Stars. "I've said this for a while that they're probably, I think, one of the better teams in the league for sure. They're deep. They can play a lot of different ways, great goaltending, good defense. They're a solid team all around. It's going to be a hard game."

The Blues, who will come into the game off back-to-back shutouts on home ice, including 3-0 against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, continue to build their game back to what makes them go: with solid goaltending, smothering defense and puck-possessing, forechecking offense.

"I didn't really see any moments in the game where we took off, to be honest with you," Berube said of Thursday's game, which he saw as close to a 60-minute game as possible. "'Binner' had to make some big saves, a couple breakdowns and they got some good speed and a couple partial breakaways and one breakaways. He was solid.

"(Controlling the puck) was the game plan. [Arizona] played [Thursday] night. They've got a real quick team, quick transition team, so we just talked about controlling the puck in the offensive zone, being patient with it, puck recoveries would be big against them just to limit their speed and their transition game, which we did a great job, everybody. Pretty good job tonight. That was the difference in the game. I would have liked to got a couple more goals, but goalies are hot right now."

The Blues felt like they had to be at a shooting gallery on Thursday, with Raanta repelling every puck coming his way.

"Raanta played really well," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "A lot of opportunities up front. Credit to that goalie. He played really well and gave the team a chance to win.

"... We've done a good job I think even starting in Nashville, we've played three good consecutive games. Obviously we didn't win in Nashville, but we got the last two. Just stick with the program and it will be good."

A win tonight can give the Blues a little bit of breathing room. With the Stars and Colorado Avalanche, three points behind the Blues with two games in hand, all fighting tooth and nail, the fight to the finish should be exciting.

The Blues and Stars will face off again at Enterprise Center on Feb. 29.

"We did a lot of things well tonight against a tired team and it’s going to be a different story tomorrow," said Blues center Ryan O'Reilly, whose goal at 12:00 of the third period was the lone goal Thursday. "It’s going to be much more physical and got to start focusing on that."

- - -

The news from Berube pre-game made this one challenging task for the Blues. 

Captain Alex Pietrangelo is sick and will not play, and Tyler Bozak sustained a lower-body injury in the win against Arizona and will be reevaluated on Saturday.

It means Robert Bortuzzo and Mackenzie MacEachern are in the lineup.

"We'll be fine," Berube said. "[Marco] Scandella in there, he can play lots of minutes, [Justin] Faulk can play lots of minutes, [Vince] Dunn's going to get lots of minutes. Bortuzzo's in there, does a great job every time he plays. We'll be OK. [Carl] Gunnarsson too."

- - -

The Blues' past three games have identified that they can get back to limiting the opposition, but it's also left a flaw too: goal production is still lacking.

The Blues have outshot their past three opponents by a combined 124-55, and including two Jordan Binnington shutouts on 17 saves against the Devils Tuesday and 14 against the Coyotes on Thursday.

"It's getting to our game," Berube said. "Our mindset has changed, being tight defensively. With our forwards, our forwards are the key to it all. When they're reloading and tracking hard, our D are going to be tight, and they're good defenders, all of them. They've got good sticks and they defend well and they close on people. There's just no room."

Does that include all the forwards?

"Yes, everybody's working hard without the puck and puck pressure, reloading and things like that," Berube said. "That's crucial."

The breakdowns defensively have also been minimized.

"We’re paying pretty good attention to the details of the game and not so much worried about the outcome," O'Reilly said. "Kind of investing in the game the right way, the way we talk, the way we track, the little details. I think New Jersey, we caught them on their heels, and tonight, we caught them tired. We played the games the right way and that’s something we’ll continue to be consistent with."

Berube said that's been a topic of discussion.

"We try to talk about that quite a bit," Berube said. "Just focus on what we've got to do in game and not thinking about the outcome so much because you can get ahead of yourself, stay in the moment and focus on the process. We're doing a better job of that lately."

The Blues will certainly need to do that tonight. They'll be the team playing the second of a back-to-back, but the Stars were that team that came into Enterprise Center two weeks ago.

"You could tell we were on the same page [Thursday]," O'Reilly said. "We knew that we had to play up top, making sure we’re making the 'D' turn and that’s exactly what we did and we got the red line and we chipped it and we hounded it and got a lot of pucks back and that’s where our offense took over from there. That was a real good thing of our game, that’s more of our style that we have to be consistent with."

- - -

Former Blues captain David Backes, who's spent the past three-plus seasons with the Boston Bruins, was traded on Friday morning to the Anaheim Ducks along with a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and defensive prospect Axel Andersson for forward Ondrej Kase.

Backes is in the fourth year of a five-year, $30 million contract after helping lead the Blues to the Western Conference Final in 2016; he last played Jan. 9, and has three points (one goal, two assists) in 16 games but rapidly fell down the Bruins totem pole, and eventually, out of the lineup. 

The 35-year-old forward was waived by Boston on Jan. 17 before being assigned to Providence of the American Hockey League; he did not play because the Bruins felt it was not in his or their best interest for any potential injuries.

It's been reported that the Bruins will retain 25 percent of Backes' remaining salary in the deal.

Backes was selected by the Blues in the second round (No. 62) of the 2003 draft; he has 554 points (245 goals, 309 assists) in 944 regular-season games and 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists) in 82 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

- - -

The Blues did not hold a morning skate on Friday, but Berube confirmed Jake Allen will get the start in goal despite Binnington having a light load the past two games and coming off back-to-back shutouts.

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jaden Schwartz-Ryan O'Reilly-Brayden Schenn

Zach Sanford-Robert Thomas-David Perron

Alexander Steen-Oskar Sundqvist-Jordan Kyrou

Mackenzie MacEachern-Ivan Barbashev-Sammy Blais

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Carl Gunnarsson-Justin Faulk

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Allen is projected to start in goal; Jordan Binnington would be the backup.

Healthy scratch is Jacob de la Rose. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Jay Bouwmeester (cardiac episode) Alex Pietrangelo (sick) and Tyler Bozak (lower body) are out.

- - -

The Stars' projected lineup:

Roope Hintz-Tyler Seguin-Corey Perry

Jamie Benn-Jason Dickinson-Denis Gurianov

Andrew Cogliano-Radek Faksa-Blake Comeau

Mattias Janmark-Joe Pavelski-Alexander Radulov

Esa Lindell-John Klingberg

Miro Heiskanen-Stephen Johns

Jamie Oleksiak-Roman Polak

Ben Bishop will start in goal; Anton Khudobin will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Andrej Sekera and Taylor Fedun. Justin Dowling (lower body) is out.