(11-22-21) Golden Knights-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues return home looking to get back to winning ways when they host the Vegas Golden Knights today at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The Blues (9-6-2) are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday after arguably putting together one of their best games of the season, 4-1 against the San Jose Sharks here at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

The Golden Knights (11-7-0) are coming off a six-game homestand in which they won five of six and are getting healthier again, although they won't have Max Pacioretty (foot) back from injury just yet.

The Blues will make one lineup change from Saturday with Robert Bortuzzo sitting out with an undisclosed injury and Niko Mikkola stepping in to take his place.

"It's more of a maintenance day for him," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "He got dinged up last game, so Mikkola will go in for him tonight."

Mikkola will play for the first time since Nov. 4 and announced he'd miss time being in COVID-19 protocol; he's played in two games this season.

"I feel fine. It wasn't that bad for me and been practicing like pretty hard for like one week and ready to go," Mikkola said. "It's pretty tough (not playing). Just need to get working hard and be ready for when I get called to play and it is what it is.

"I didn't feel like I had the best camp but like the same thing as I'd be working like on the last year and thing I will play fine when I got a couple of games."

Mikkola will be paired with Marco Scandella making up the third defensive pairing.

"Yeah, he played a couple solid games and got COVID," Berube said of Mikkola. "That's unfortunate. We've been wanting to get him back in there, bog body. He's aggressive and difficult to play against.

"I think sometimes going into training camp when you're a young guy, you want to stand out and make the team and be one of the top six D and you put a lot of pressure on yourself and I think he put a lot of pressure on himself and didn't perform well enough. Other guys out-performed him. He's still on the hockey team obviously and like I said, he played a couple good games before COVID hit him so hopefully he can just feed off that and get going again.

"He's aggressive and he skates pretty well for a big guy, gets on top of people, he's physical and he's got a big, long stick. He uses it pretty well and penalty killing, we need him for penalty killing too. He gets in the way, he's a big guy."

- - -

Oskar Sundqvist will play in his fourth game since returning from a torn left ACL and surgeries to both hips.

The Blues center said he's still working his way back into the flow and that the timing has been the biggest adjustment.

"I think the pace is all fine now," Sundqvist said. "It's more just the timing of stuff. Feel like I'm over-skating in some situations where I can take a little bit easier and just glide into it instead of skating full stride into it. It's coming more and more, it's been feeling better with timing wise and all that stuff for every game. So hopefully it keeps improving.

"It's been fun. Obviously you miss being back, a bit up and down for myself during games and you just find the right level throughout.

"(Hips are) sore but fine. Yeah. It's a lot of treatment going on after games and days after so. But we're we're doing a good job keeping an eye on them. So good."

Sundqvist has been centering the identity line with Brandon Saad and Ivan Barbashev.

"Same Sunny. He's relentless out there, energy, his work ethic, it rubs off the rest of the team," Berube said. "(Timing will) take a while, but his aggressiveness and his second and third efforts make up for a lot of that.

"I told you it was an identity line. I believe that with the way they play and how we want to play. Not everyone plays the same way, I'm not saying that, but it's just an identity of how the game ... it sets a tone for us. It sets a tone, that's what we're looking for right away."

- - -

Former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo has done the part of playing against his former teammates and been in this building already last season.

But tonight will be different.

Pietrangelo, in his second season with Vegas since signing as a free agent there prior to last season, will play here in front of a large crowd for the first time.

When the Golden Knights visited St. Louis last season, attendance was capped in the low 4,000's, but this will see a full capacity, if the building is indeed full.

"It'll be pretty special," Pietrangelo said. "It's going to be fun playing in front of a full crowd. I had a lot of good times with the fans here. They were nothing but great to me. I hope I was the same to them. It was a little disappointing last year not having the building full. It's a fun place to play for anybody, but obviously it's going to be more special having family in the stands."

Pietrangelo has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 18 games, including nine points (three goals, six assists) his past nine games.

"He's been fantastic," Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said. "One of the reasons we've been able to survive and be in the position we're in with what we've gone through has been our goaltending and the play of our big guys that have been in the lineup and he's right at the front of that list. He's been solid every single night, leading the way for us from a defensive point of view and offensively chipping in, but his leadership has been exceptional through this stretch in keeping us on the right path and in a position to be able to get through some of the stuff we've dealt with."

- - -

What the Blues want to avoid from Saturday's game was a repeat of allowing two shorthanded goals, a power play goal and subsequently, an empty-net goal. 

In 5-on-5 situations, they were fine. But the special teams was clearly an issue.

"Power play I thought in the Dallas game, we were sloppy," Berube said. "We didn't execute with the puck. Dallas did a good job killing and they were aggressive. Our puck play wasn't very good and with the shorthanded goals, it was just a matter of on the one reloading harder, or waited on it on a 50-50 puck and they poached by it and got by us, and on the other one with (Torey) Krug, that unit, it's the right play for him to step in there and keep that puck alive; we're trying to score, but you've got to get one or the other, the puck or the man to limit that 2 on 1 there.

"We've dealt with it in San Jose. We really did a good job there. Carolina, the one unit did a great job there, they're ultra-aggressive and Vegas is aggressive. It's quick puck movement, really quick puck movement and getting pucks through to the net right away, creating some chaos and rebounds around the net."

- - -

Blues center Brayden Schenn took part in the morning skate but will miss his ninth straight game. However, Berube said Schenn is "very close."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jordan Kyrou-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Ivan Barbashev

Klim Kostin-Tyler Bozak-James Neal

Torey Krug-Colton Parayko

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola-Marco Scandella 

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup. 

The healthy scratch will be Jake Walman. Brayden Schenn (upper body) and Robert Bortuzzo (undisclosed)

- - -

The Golden Knights' projected lineup:

Evgenii Dadonov-Chandler Stephenson-Mark Stone

Mattias Janmark-Nicolas Roy-Reilly Smith

Adam Brooks-Jake Leschyshyn-Keegan Kolesar

Paul Cotter-Brett Howden-Jonas Rondbjerg

Nicolas Hague-Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb-Zach Whitecloud

Ben Hutton-Dylan Coghlan

Robin Lehner will start in goal; Laurent Brossoit will be the backup. 

The healthy scratch is expected to be Ben Jones. Jack Eichel (neck), Max Pacioretty (foot), William Karlsson (foot), Shea Theodore (head), Nolan Patrick (upper body) and Alec Martinez (facial laceration) are all out. Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier and Michael Amadio are all on COVID-19 protocol.

(11-20-21) Blues-Stars Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC

So, how does one follow up a solid performance like the Blues (9-5-2) had on Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks?

"You do it again," Blues defenseman Marco Scandella said. "You do it again. 

"We had another good practice (Friday) and we just string them together here."

That's what they'll try and do today at 7 p.m. when they take on the Dallas Stars (6-7-2) at American Airlines Center, the first time the Blues will see the Stars since inside the Edmonton bubble at Rogers Place Aug. 9, 2020.

The Stars have been scuffling out of the gates, and scoring has been the biggest issue, although they'll be an ornery group tonight coming off a 7-2 beating at the hands of the Minnesota Wild Thursday in St. Paul.

"They've always been a good, defensive team, strong goaltending," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "You've got to fight for space out there and we've got to work."

That's why the team chose to get after it for a hard practice Friday and used Saturday as an optional.

"Well that's what we're trying to bring," Scandella said. "We're trying to get out of a rut. We can't just hold our heads high after one win. We're trying to string a few together. We have a really good team here and we have to get back to dominating teams like we were earlier in the year."

The Blues will be playing their eighth game in 14 days tonight, and the challenge of managing ice time vs. rest is imperative for the use of energy.

"I think it's been good," Berube said. "I haven't really noticed a real drop in energy. There were a couple games coming from those road trips out west coming back home, that takes the energy out of you a little bit where I noticed the energy wasn't great, but I thought we had great energy last game."

- - -

There will be no lineup changes from the 4-1 win over the Sharks Thursday other than Jordan Binnington as the projected starter in goal.

But one aspect to keep an eye on as the season progresses is if backup Ville Husso plays as he has his previous three starts, including two this season, he will get more work and will allow Binnington to rest more often.

"Yeah for sure," Berube said. "I think that was the plan before he got COVID. His first game was excellent, then he got COVID. We're definitely going to need him and we're going to use him."

Husso, who shut out the Wild in his final start last season on May 12 with a 31-save effort, opened this season with a 34-save 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings Oct. 25 before he was knocked out for 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19.

He came back Thursday and made 26 saves in another impressive effort giving Husso a 0.33 goals-against average and .989 save percentage his past three starts.

"I think it was just a lot of work that he put in in the summer and a lot of work that Davey (Alexander) and he put in at training camp, even before camp just working on things," Berube said. "He just looks more comfortable in net to me more than anything. I think he's confident right now. Even looking at him, he goes out and plays a lot more pucks. He looks big in net, so that's confidence."

Also, with Niko Mikkola back from COVID protocol, he will be a healthy scratch again tonight.

"We're planning on getting him in there for sure, but I thought the defense looked really good last game, I didn't want to make a change for tonight's game," Berube said. "But you're right, we've got to get Mikkola in there. He's an important part of our team, and we'll find room for him. We'll have to do what we've got to do to get him in."

- - -

The same lineup means, not that it's a shock, but defenseman and 2020 Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Perunovich will play his third NHL game.

He collected his first NHL point, an assist on a Robert Thomas goal, Thursday against the Sharks. He played 18:26 in his debut Tuesday against Arizona and 19:25 against San Jose.

"He's got high-end skill," Berube said. "He's got elite vision and puck play. He can really make plays with the puck. He's a very good two-way player, he's got a great stick. He does a great job on the defensive side of things. He's a pretty solid all-around hockey player."

Teammates are already aware of how good an impression Perunovich has made in the early going.

"I’m extremely impressed to be honest with you," center Tyler Bozak said. "There’s so many little things out there that honestly might not be noticed by a lot of people that he does that are just super smart plays. He makes an incredible first pass, which is something that is very underrated. He gets the puck up to the forwards, right on the tape, at the right time, it seems like every time.

"He’s a guy that definitely has a long career ahead of him. Super smart player, which is awesome to see."

The plays Bozak is referring to are not ones that have been taught.

"I think a lot of it would be instinctual," he said. "I think just his hockey sense. Obviously being a smaller guy, he probably had to adjust a bit growing up playing defense, and had to do those little things that maybe some other guys wouldn’t do that were bigger. And I think that’s helped him ton. He makes very good plays (like that). He also has an incredible stick that we even see in practice. It’s hard to pass through him and get pucks by him.

"Obviously won a Hobey Baker in college, so that just goes to show you how good he’s been before he got here, too. So he’s been doing a great job so far. And I think we will see a lot of him moving forward."

And then there's the 23-year-old that seems humbled by the experience and playing with confidence.

"First of all, I want to talk about the person. He's a great person in the locker room, gets along with everybody, so it's great having him, and as a player, he moves his feet, he's very elusive out there and he's a smart player," Scandella said. "For a small guy, he puts himself in good positions and he's creating offense. I can't say enough good things about him. Hopefully he continues playing the way that he is because he's really helping our team.

"... We've embraced him and just happy for him. I feel like we have a really good group of defensemen that we're all vocal with each other, pump each other up, and that goes for our team. We're not a jealous group. When one guy is having success, we're all pulling for him and vice versa. I feel like we have a really special group and that's what's going to keep us together and make us hopefully go deep in the playoffs."

- - -

* Jordan Kyrou has a six-game point streak (six goals, two assists) and has scored in five of six games, including three straight.

* Vladimir Tarasenko has a five-game point streak at AAC (four goals, two assists) and has 24 points (16 goals, eight assists) in 28 games against the Stars in his career.

* David Perron, who hasn't scored in 11 straight games (but has six assists in that span), has 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in 39 career games against the Stars.

* Pavel Buchnevich has seven points (two goals, five assists) his past six games, which includes a four-game point streak (one goal, four assists); he has six points (two goals, four assists) in five games against the Stars.

* Robert Thomas has eight points (one goal, seven assists) his past five games. 

* Ryan O'Reilly has three assists the past two games after no points in five games returning off COVID protocol.

* Torey Krug has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in 13 games against the Stars.

- - - 

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jordan Kyrou-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Ivan Barbashev

Klim Kostin-Tyler Bozak-James Neal

Torey Krug-Colton Parayko

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Jake Walman and Niko Mikkola. Brayden Schenn (upper body) remains out.

- - -

The Stars' projected lineup:

Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Joe Pavelski

Michael Raffl-Jamie Benn-Denis Gurianov

Joel Kiviranta-Tyler Seguin-Luke Glendening

Jacob Peterson-Radek Faksa-Alexander Radulov

Ryan Suter-John Klingberg

Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen

Joel Hanley-Jani Hakanpaa 

Jake Oettinger will start in goal; Anton Khudobin will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Andrej Sekera, who has a non-COVID illness and Riley Tufte. Braden Holtby (lower body) is out.

(11-20-21) BLUES NOTEBOOK

After impressive win over Sharks, Blues must stick to script, build off win; 

Lebanc to have hearing for slew-foot; Schenn practices; Berube talks to Kostin

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- OK, it's one game. Now what?

That's what the Blues (9-5-2) have to ask themselves.

It was impressive, a 4-1 home win against the San Jose Sharks to half a four-game rut, as they liked to call it going 0-3-1, but nonetheless, it was the type of 60-minute effort the Blues search for on a daily basis.

What's important now is to try and build on it and move along with it on a game-by-game basis.

The next step is a Saturday road game against the Dallas Stars (6-7-2).

"I think just having that mentality," said forward Brandon Saad, who scored twice in the win Thursday. "It's something where you do the right things, you have success. It's easy to fall back on those habits and that routine. Obviously we did a good job (Thursday) and we want to continue that."

"It's a long season," defenseman Marco Scandella said. "We've got a lot of older guys here that have played a lot of years, and there's ups and downs in the season, but you can't let those moments where you're slipping, you can't let them last too long. You've got to find a way to stop that and get a win again and feel good in the locker room. I feel like that starts with hard work. I feel like we went to practice before the last game and we all came to work and we got better and we brought that into the game and we played a full 60, and that's what we needed to do."

And by doing so, coach Craig Berube put the team through a short, but brisk and intense practice on Friday before hopping on a plane to Texas. It's about having what he called a "businesslike" attitude.

"Like we talked, it starts with practice today and just being business-like again and having a good practice," Berube said. "I thought the details of practice were good today. They're not going to have the same energy as they would have if there wasn't a game last night. It's not going to happen, but the details were good. I thought it was business-like in practice and then you've got to understand what you're going into tomorrow, a team that got beat 7-2, desperate team. They'll be mad obviously. You've got to go in there and we've got to understand what we need to do as a team to make that other team play uncomfortable. We're going to have to play on the goal line on them and play a north game like we talk all the time and do a lot of the same things we did last night in the game. It's about execution and it's about just doing the right thing and playing the right way."

Berube barked at the players a couple times during drills, a sign of a coach wanting his players to remain sharp and staying even-keeled, even after a solid outing.

"No, it's all about skating for me, work," Berube said. "I know a lot of times it's hard. You played a game the night before, but you've got to push yourself. It's my job to push the players and then hopefully they respond to that."

What the Blues found was something the players have said the past couple games.

"We definitely had a lot of jam," Scandella said. "I feel like every line was setting up the other line. We were going out there getting good changes and just working together and we did it for 60 minutes. That's why we got the result we did.

"I just felt like the second efforts were there and not putting ourselves in a bad spot. We weren't wasting a lot of energy on turnovers and having to back-check unnecessarily. We were feeding into our game, which is below the goal line, feeding the 'D,' just getting shots on net, smothering teams. We win by committee. We have a lot of talented players on this team, but we don't have just two guys going out winning games for us. I feel like it's everybody, and everyone has to feel good in those games, and that's what we did. We just helped each other get to our games."

* Labanc suspended one game -- San Jose forward Kevin Labanc was suspended for one game by the league's Department of Player Safety for the slew-foot play that resulted in a tripping penalty on Tyler Bozak in the first period.

Bozak, normally mild-mannered, didn't take too kindly to going hard into the side boards and was aided by teammate Klim Kostin and others that congregated in the scrum.

"I can’t speak for him," Bozak said Friday. "I don’t know if there was any intent there, but obviously it’s a dangerous play, which I’ve seen actually a few times this year in the league and I don’t know why. It’s been starting to happen.

"Obviously, I was upset. There should still be a respect level out there on the ice. Everybody plays hard. If it’s clean, it’s fine. When stuff like that happens, not saying he meant to or if there was intent, but you’ve seen that bad injuries can happen and guys can get hurt. So obviously I took offense to that."

Bozak has a history of concussions and he crashed pretty hard onto the ice.

"You hate to see plays like that that can result (in injuries)," Bozak said. "I was lucky, obviously, to be fine. But some other guys this year had the same sort of thing happen to them haven’t been so lucky. So we definitely don’t need things like that in the game.

"I don’t know if he meant to do it or not. It’s all good now. It’s over with. But it’s definitely a play that needs to not happen moving forward."

* Schenn practices -- Blues center Brayden Schenn, who missed his seventh game Thursday, practiced with the squad but looks like he'll miss an eighth game Saturday with an upper-body injury sustained Oct. 30 against Chicago.

Schenn took part in practice, skated and did some stick-handling and shooting but was not part of line rushes and when the team went to a 3-on-2 battle drill, he was at the other end putting himself through cardio and puck work.

Schenn, who has six points (three goals, three assists) in nine games, will return soon and someone will have to come out of the lineup, a decision Berube will at some point have to make barring any injuries/transactions between now and then.

"I think it's good that we have depth," Berube said. "We've got a lot of guys that can play big roles for us. I think you need that in an 82-game season and they are tough decisions sometimes, but that's part of my job and you've got to go with what's best for the team and you've got to understand this is what's best for the team. It's all about team. This whole hockey, the game, all sports, it's about team and if you get everybody buying into that, you can be really successful."

Just reading between the tea leaves, Berube had a longer than usual chat as practice was about to start with Kostin, and for a younger player, it is a coach usually talking about things either that they like and to continue down that path or what they're looking for more of.
Kostin has two goals and two assists in 15 games this season.

"No, not so much. It's about playing a role like he's playing like Bozak," Berube said of Kostin. "It's about managing things and making sure that you do the right things every shift with the puck, putting it in deep and going to work, creating energy for the team. I was talking to him about puck protection in the offensive zone, being strong on it, keeping pucks and hanging onto it because he's a big guy and he can do that and just about maybe taking pucks to the net more and getting himself to the net. Just disrupt the other team a little bit more, make the other team notice them and make it uncomfortable for the other team."

Blues find another identity line with Saad, Sundqvist, Barbashev

Unit leads charge in so many aspects that helped Blues snap four-game losing 

skid with 4-1 win over Sharks; Saad leads way with two goals, Husso sharp

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Craig Berube has seen this combination before, and the Blues coach wasn't hesitant then to use it.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Brandon Saad (20) and Ivan Barbashev (49) worked as two-thirds of the

identity line for the Blues on Thursday in a 4-1 win over San Jose.

When the Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, Berube was used to calling out the starting lineup ... "Sunny, Steener, Barby," and whoever the d-pairing was and the goalie, and finished it with, "Let's go!"

Yes, it was one game, but could the Blues and Berube found a similar trio?

Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev are the norm, forming what Berube called the 'Identity Line.' Brandon Saad joined it on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, and that trio led by example, with Saad scoring twice in a 4-1 win at Enterprise Center.

The Blues (9-5-2) were in dire need of a win after going winless the past four games (0-3-1), including a woeful 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on home ice Tuesday.

The Saad-Sundqvist-Barbashev line started the game Thursday and although they didn't score on the first shift of the game like Alexander Steen, Sundqvist and Barbashev did a number of times during that magical playoff run, they set the tone with a good, solid shift of puck control, driving offensive zone time and leaving teammates coming on for them in good positions.

Remember that?

Well, it's one game, but this was a good blueprint of how and what the Blues need to get back to. The line had a Corsi-for, Corsi-against of 13-11 and 7-5 advantage in shots for. Not whopping numbers by any stretch, including an 8-8 even number in scoring chances for, scoring chances against, but it's a start.

Saad had his two goals on six shots on goal and eight attempts in 16:09; Sundqvist, playing in just his second game since March 19, had an assist with three shots on goal (four attempts) and three hits in 14:42; and Barbashev had an assist on three shots on goal and one hit in 15:35 while winning seven of 10 face-offs. 

"I think just getting momentum," said Saad, who led the Blues in expected goals at 0.769, according to moneypuck.com. "There's situational play where we want to go out there and make right decisions and play with the puck. Whether that's a big shift after a goal or trying to get momentum the momentum getting the pucks in deep getting in one the forecheck. I think that's something as a line we can play smart like that, possess the puck and create o-zone time. That's going to help the momentum in the game.

"Yeah, that's something where I like to possess the puck and hold onto it and grind teams down. So regardless of what line you're on, it's something I try to do and we had some success here tonight."

It takes a special someone to play the style of game Sundqvist and Barbashev like to, being poised with the puck, putting it into smart areas on the ice and go in and get it whether they grind, forecheck or hound. Berube needed to find the right fit, and he has it in Saad.

"He plays in straight lines," Berube said of Saad. "He’s a good skater, but he plays in straight lines. And that’s how they play. He’s a straight-line player, has a good shot, and he goes to the net."

Saad wears No. 20. Steen wore No. 20. Coincidence that's why Berube went to?

"Similar players," Berube said. "Pretty similar."

The Blues controlled the puck for much of the game and had the Sharks (8-7-1) playing on their heels for much of the game. Their puck decisions were much smarter in this game, and turnovers were fewer than we've seen in recent games.

"We moved the puck really well," Berube said. "I thought our 'D' moved the puck well in transition. The forwards made good decisions for the most part and that’s important. We’re a puck possession team. We got a lot of guys, they want to hang onto pucks and make plays, and we’re all for it. But it’s about managing it.

"Sometimes it’s there; sometimes it’s not. Got to make good decisions and I thought we made good decisions tonight and it led to a lot of O-zone time and a lot of opportunities offensively. It was good to see that we drew power plays because we were in the offensive zone working."

The Blues pumped a season-high 48 shots on Sharks goalie James Reimer, their most since they put 49 on Vegas Oct. 12, 2017, which was an overtime game, and their most since putting 50 on the Vancouver Canucks March 19, 2016 in a 3-0 win. It was because of that puck possession time, cycling it, working it and getting it back when it was off their stick.
The loss to Arizona wasn't good. The Blues know it. They had the chance to do something about it and at least for one game, did it.

"I think it's a bit of a wakeup call," Saad said. "Sometimes you just look at the result, but I think for us, it's something we just want to focus on how we can play every night. Regardless of how the result ends, it's something that we had to be better as a team and it's something we talked about getting better every night playing a full 60 minutes, that kind of thing. It definitely felt good getting a win tonight.

"... I think me and the team, I think we played a little bit simpler, played with more pace, getting pucks in deep better, making smart decisions. Still had some turnovers we want to clean up, but it's, I think, our main focus as a team. We were kind of shooting ourselves there with turnovers."

It started with practice Wednesday and carried over.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

The Blues' Oskar Sundqvist (70) and San Jose's Mario Ferraro battle for

a loose puck during action Thursday at Enterprise Center.

"Businesslike. Practice the next day was businesslike," Berube said. "I don’t know if I really talk in terms of business to the players like that. But if we can become a businesslike team night in, night out, in practice and all that, that goes a long way. And you know you’re gonna be prepared to play the right way if you get that mindset."

Ville Husso did the rest in goal with a 26-save performance, giving him a 3-0-0 record in his past three starts with a 0.33 goals-against average and .989 save percentage.

"Yeah, it was a big win for us and guys played pretty well and after the first period, there was not much going on my end," Husso said. "So the guys played pretty well and the defense well and got some goals, so it was nice to see."

(11-18-21) Sharks-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues will turn to Ville Husso to try and help them snap out of a funk.

Husso will make his first appearance since returning from the COVID-19 protocol and second start this season when the Blues (8-5-2) host the San Jose Sharks (8-6-1) at 7 p.m. today (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Husso, who blanked the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 in his only start this season Oct. 25, missed five games while in COVID protocol before returning Tuesday as the backup for Jordan Binnington. He comes into the game with two straight shutouts, including a 4-0 win against the Minnesota Wild back on May 12; he has a personal shutout streak of 134:46 heading into the game.

"It's been a couple weeks now. It's nice to be back with the team," Husso said. "Unfortunately I was out for two weeks and something that I couldn't do anything about, but it's nice to be back.

"I feel fine now and I only had just a couple days more like cold symptoms, but it's so nice to be back and play hockey again. Looking forward to tonight.

"I know that last game is good and I just need to keep playing like that and bring all the good stuff from that game and try to get a win tonight."

Husso has been on the practice ice for more than a week and the Blues, who are 0-3-1 their past four games -- all one-goal losses -- will need a premium start in net to help fuel the squad.

"He's had a number of practices, so he's good to go. He feels good, so he should be ready," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We need both our goalies; we know that. There's the schedule and a lot of games. His last outing was excellent. Hopefully again he can give us that outing tonight."

Husso, who is 10-6-1 with a 3.01 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in his NHL career, has been getting in all the necessary reps to be game-ready.

"All the tracking pucks, the speed and stuff, but we did a good job with the goalie coach Davey (Alexander) and got that back," Husso said. "I feel ready to go tonight. Tracking and the speed's probably the biggest things.

"There's been a good amount of practice for me. It's a little different for goalies than players. We can't get a shift off during the game so we wanted to make sure I'm ready to go and I'm in good shape whenever I'm ready to play. I feel tonight is the night."

- - - 

After a full practice on Wednesday, the Blues held an optional morning skate Thursday, and among the players was Brayden Schenn (upper-body injury), but he won't be available to play tonight and will miss his seventh straight game.

Among the veteran skaters on the ice included Ryan O'Reilly, David Perron, Justin Faulk, Robert Bortuzzo and Marco Scandella. Oskar Sundqvist skated briefly but left early; he will play again tonight and center what Berube called the identity line with Brandon Saad and Ivan Barbashev.

"When you're going through adversity, we've had four the last game and three losses (in regulation), but pretty good hockey," Berube said. "We defeated ourselves in a way a little bit in those three games, late goals and things like that. I felt like against Arizona though, we weren't  that team unit again. When things aren't going well, you tend to look inside to become individuals a little bit and that was a big conversation yesterday. We're trying to just get that team atmosphere back and that team-first mindset. 

"It is a fine line (in the NHL). You can't go into any game and take it lightly no matter what team, where they're at, the lineup, what lineup they have. All these teams will give you a fight and it's a very close league. You look at around the league, all these teams are bunched in there. It's tight. All the points matter. You're not going to get an easy game. It just doesn't happen."

Sundqvist, who played 9:45 in his first game back since March 19, will get more added responsibilities moving forward with each passing game.

"Yeah, and just go by how he feels too," Berube said. "He'll let us know. I think the ice time he got last game was probably suitable, but hopefully he just feels better and better and we start giving him more."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jordan Kyrou-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Ivan Barbashev

Klim Kostin-Tyler Bozak-James Neal

Torey Krug-Colton Parayko

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Jake Walman and Niko Mikkola. Brayden Schenn (upper body) remains out.

- - -

The Sharks' projected lineup:

Timo Meier-Logan Couture-Jonathan Dahlen  

Alexander Barabanov-Tomas Hertl-Rudolfs Balcers

Andrew Cogliano-Nick Bonino-Matt Nieto 

Jonah Gadjovich-Jasper Weatherby-Kevin Labanc

Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns 

Erik Karlsson-Jacob Middleton

Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Santeri Hatakka

James Reimer will start in goal; Adin Hill will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Radim Simek and Nick Merkley. Nikolai Knyzhov (upper body), Lane Pederson (lower body) and Jeffrey Viel (finger) are out. 

With Perunovich's NHL career just beginning, defenseman has Faulks to thank for transition, adult life

2020 2nd-rd pick grateful to Justin, Chloe Faulk for taking him in, allowing 

him to get on feet in foreign city; parents get to see his first NHL game

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Now that Justin Faulk has a live-in tenant again, joining wife Chloe and infant child -- and dogs -- he had one request of Blues defenseman and teammate Scott Perunovich.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Scott Perunovich made his Blues and NHL debut on Tuesday, but the

defenseman is grateful to teammate Justin Faulk and wife Chloe for taking

him in and giving him chance to grow in new city.

"We haven't gone over that yet. I think first duty will be feeding the dogs at 7 a.m. when they get up and want to be fed," Faulk said. "It's pretty smooth. He's got a nice, comfortable space I think for him to kind of relax or to be away from us if he wants as well. It's pretty easy."

Perunovich, one of the Blues' top prospects who played his first NHL game Tuesday, hasn't been given any requests for feeding the dogs but won't object if asked -- or told.

"No, but I'll do anything he tells me to do, but right now, just hang out with him," Perunovich said of Faulk. "He said I'm going to have to start (to) babysit. I've never done that before, so we'll see how that goes."

Changing diapers isn't Perunovich's thing, but he wasn't going to pass up the chance to take up residence in St. Louis with what amounts to his second family, the Faulks. 

They were the ones that took Perunovich into the Faulk home when the 23-year-old stayed with them last season while he was training with the Blues and after his shoulder injury that required surgery.

The 2020 Hobey Baker Award winner hadn't seen much of the ice since his final season at Minnesota-Duluth in 2020. He didn't get one game in last season, and as a young 22-year-old, it can get quite troublesome, and lonely, when things aren't going well in a city you're not familiar with.

"There were some dark times for sure," Perunovich said. "Shoulder surgery wasn't ideal and then I think two weeks before that, I had immediate or emergency wisdom teeth removal too and the whole time, I was living in St. Louis alone too. Well not alone, I was living with 'Faulker' but away from my family. Him and Chloe were rock stars with me, especially Chloe. 

"When I got my wisdom teeth out, I'm not a fan of blood or surgeries and that was like my first main one. I don't really remember much from after the surgery, but I remember Chloe. We were in the kitchen, just me and her I think. Justin was on the road and she was telling me I had to get all the gauze out of my mouth and I couldn't do it, so I was freaked out about it. Next thing I know, she was sticking her fingers down my throat to get the gauze out just being a trooper. And the whole time, she's like eight and a half months pregnant doing this. What those two did for me is, like I'll never be able to thank them, my family as well. They know how much those two have taken care of me. To be able to have that in my corner in that whole time, I don't know what I would have done without those two. I'm serious. I hope they know how much I appreciate that."

Faulk knows. So much so, that he invited Perunovich, recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Monday, to stay with them again.

"I think it just makes it a little easier on him, allows him to get his bearings here," Faulk said. "I have another space in the house that works for him. It's not the basement. He does have windows. He can see the light outside."

Word spread quickly that Perunovich, who was tearing up the AHL with 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) in 12 games, was on his way to St. Louis, and Faulk wasted little time.

"I think Justin just called me, I don't think I had his number yet, and he called me and he said, 'My house is open if you want to live with me,'" Perunovich recalled of the first time last season staying with Faulk. "And then this time, when I got called up this time, I just got off the phone with Doug Armstrong and 30 minutes later, I had a text message from Justin saying I'm living with him. He said he had to check with his wife Chloe first, and thankfully she said, 'Yeah.' Hopefully she doesn't have to take any more gauze out of my mouth."

The Blues didn't hold back. They inserted Perunovich into the lineup immediately, in front of his parents, Jim and Susan, who witnessed first, his solo skate onto the ice for the pregame warmup, then seeing their son play 18:26 in his first game.

"It was a dream for sure," Perunovich said. "It was a special moment. It was really special having my family there. They've been a part of it since Day 1. I just know how much it meant to them and how excited they were. That definitely made it special too.

"Just warms my heart to see how happy they are. I thought for sure my mom was going to be balling her eyes out, so she did a good job. She held up pretty well."

But before he took the ice for the pregame warmup, Perunovich was given a set of instructions, or advice, from someone who's done it himself.

"Vladi actually came up to me probably 30 minutes before warmups and he said, 'You're going out first, you're not wearing a helmet, don't miss the net, don't step on a puck,'" Perunovich said of Vladimir Tarasenko. "That was his advice he gave to me and then he walked away. That was it, so I just listened to what he said.

"I was shooting for the middle of the net, I wasn't missing. Vladi told me not to miss, I'm not going to miss."

Perunovich didn't register a point in the 3-2 loss, but he looked composed, he skated with fluidity and he made pinpoint passes with the puck. There are other parts to his game that will come, but it was evident that the time he spent with the Thunderbirds, albeit for only a month or so, was spent well and helped the Hibbing, Minn. native prepare for this.

"I think a ton," Perunovich said. "I haven't played a lot in the last few years and we have an unbelievable team down in Springfield. All the guys are great people and great leaders and they're also great players too along with our coaching staff. Obviously that helps a ton as well. We have some veteran guys down there who would talk to me and give me advice every now and then. Having those type of leaders is huge for development, especially at a young spot in your career.

"I was getting good ice time. I was on both power plays for a bit. We had some injuries. They told me they were going to try and give me basically all situations and they did. That helps for sure."

And Blues coach Craig Berube wasn't going to waste time just putting Perunovich through the motions; he played 2:59 on the power play quarterbacking the second unit.

"His eyes are up and sees the ice very well," Berube said. "That's a gift. His passing is pretty elite."

On Wednesday as they headed for practice, each drove his own vehicle, and when they arrived and saw the lines and defensive pairings on the white board from the coaching staff, Perunovich was tickled to death when he saw ... 

48-72

He and Faulk are expected to be partners against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

"I didn't even know what to think," Perunovich said. "I thought I was ... because this morning on my way to the rink, I'm staying at his house and I was thinking kind of how far we've came. I didn't really know him that well before and then I just show up at his house, I follow him from Minnesota and then a year and a half, two years later, my name's next to his on the board, my number. Pretty special and he's a great player, so it should be fun."

Faulk, who had been partnered for much of last season and the start of this season with Torey Krug until Krug would miss five games due to COVID-19 protocol, to which Faulk said, "I think he went and asked 'Chief' if he can get rid of me one game back and he was already complaining about it. I'll have to have a word with him on that I think and see what I did wrong."

Now Faulk's looking forward to playing with a prized hockey player who he's mentored on and off the ice in a sense.

"You watch him skate and play and it's not ... whoever has this mold of a hockey player, whoever made it, but I think he missed a few things," Faulk said. "There's more to it. Like you said, he has his head up. He can read the play and make those plays. It's tough for a young guy to do that, that's for sure. I think you can see how cool and composed he is out there with the puck and how he skates. He thinks the game out there and that's one of the hardest parts to get is the thinking side of it. There's so many guys that can skate real well and shoot the puck real well, that could pass, do a lot of things, but if you can't think the game, he won't last very long, I don't think, up here. Guys are just too smart. You can see that he has a head for the game and can anticipate a lot of things out there and that's obviously going to benefit him significantly."

It's obvious Faulk and Perunovich have developed that bond off the ice, which should make the transition onto the ice smoothly.

"I think so for sure," Perunovich said. "Last summer when I was living with him, I think we were d-partners, or maybe in this camp. Definitely having that connection off the ice, I feel like when I have a question about anything, straight to Justin. Seems like he always has an answer right away. He's a special guy."

"It's usually how it goes in a sense of teammates, you don't just talk on the ice, right? There's plenty of opportunities," Faulk said. "Guys are around each other and build that relationship and stuff. As teammates, it's of the utmost importance that you care about each other and you take care of each other. That translates on the ice. I don't think it starts on the ice and then goes off the ice. I think it's actually the other way. It's important, not for just Scotty and I to play together, but everyone on the team to kind of have that mentality and care for one another and get to know your teammates and what not and be there for each other. It is easy on the ice and then you're willing to work for each other and care about each other's success."

One would think there's plenty of hockey talk when they leave the rink or maybe even at the house.

Not so.

"No, once we get away from the rink, it's not really hockey," Perunovich said. "He's big into fishing. I'm not. I've been asking him questions. He's got a fishing boat at home, so I was looking at that asking questions, but not much hockey unless we're on the way to the rink or at the rink."

Also being a Minnesota-Duluth alum, albeit for one season in 2010-11, connects Faulk and Perunovich. Coincidence? Sure, but the bond is just getting started and will continue to grow.

"This one was a little bit more close to home, I guess, right, in a sense," Faulk said. "Some college and then obviously he's with the Blues, but it's not like I would reach out to someone that signed with the New York Rangers, unless I know them. I'd say, 'Congrats,' or something, whatever that is. This one's easy. A lot of us all went through it in a sense of being a young guy coming to a new situation and having to get your bearings with that connection. We didn't know each other before at all. I just wanted to make it easier on him and I know his agent, I've known his agent since I was, I don't know, 12-, 13-years-old, so that was another connection there that made it easier and what not. It's just something that I wanted to do and reach out and say, 'Congrats,' and see if I could lend a helping hand.

"Four straight Frozen Fours, three straight national championship games, three national championships total, I follow him pretty good! No, I knew what he was doing. I don't follow individuals really. Obviously we all know he won the Hobey Baker and he was having a great career there. I think I knew more about him towards his last year and obviously once I got here too. I didn't know that he was drafted here or anything before I showed up in St. Louis (in 2019) and what not. I follow Duluth quite a bit. I go to alumni weekends when I get a chance. It's nice to see them producing and continuing to have a good team and putting guys to the next level."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues defenseman Justin Faulk will be partnered with Scott Perunovich when

they take on the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

To which Perunovich said about Faulk, "Everyone knew who he was. He's definitely a legend at UMD and to get to know him on a personal level, he's a legend off the ice too."

And when Perunovich went "home," he did everything he could to make his stay as well as can be, and to extend it as long as possible.

"I try to be clean, I try to be respectful, I try to be quiet now with the baby in the house too," Perunovich said. "He's got a perfect setup for me. I'm well taken care of and Chloe's an unbelievable cook. It's amazing.

"I'm not leaving until I get kicked out. That's what I was thinking, so we'll see how long I last."
Perunovich's career is just getting started and thanks to Faulk, the transition was made smoothly.

"Scotty's not 18, but guys are 18 years old. Never left home," Faulk said. "You come out of football, or you're into football, you're into three years of college, you've been away from home and you've been on your own. I don't know if they do or they don't, I'll just take your word for it right now, but I think some guys have never done a load of laundry before. They don't need to be sending all their stuff to the dry cleaners every day to get it taken care of. It's an easy way to make life easier for young kids. It's a whirlwind as it is. They've got to deal with people reaching out to them, calling or texting, whatever it might be. If there's ways to make life easier for them, it's a no-brainer."

Blues split lineup around in hopes of breaking slide

Forwards, defenseman will get fresh look for game against 

San Jose Thursday, including O'Reilly, Perron back together

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It's been known coaches tend to go to the blender when line combos and d-pairings are broken up.

Craig Berube went full blender Wednesday at practice.

The Blues coach shuffled up each of his forward lines and each of his defensive pairs trying to shake the Blues (8-5-2) from their four-game winless slide, going 0-3-1 and on the heels of a poor performance in a 3-2 loss against the Arizona Coyotes on home ice Tuesday.

Here's how they lined up on the Enterprise Center ice after the Blues took team photos for their Winter Classic prep in the jerseys they'll wear on New Year's Day:

Jordan Kyrou-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Ivan Barbashev

Klim Kostin-Tyler Bozak-James Neal

Torey Krug-Colton Parayko

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Robert Bortuzzo

* Niko Mikkola-Jake Walman was the extra pair.

Jordan Binnington

Ville Husso

* Brayden Schenn (upper body injury) did not practice with the team Wednesday.

Berube said for the Blues, who close a three-game homestand Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, "It's just about dialing in on the little things that are going on, getting back to that team-first mindset that we had I thought that going into camp and through camp and out of camp, we had a real good start. I thought there was a real good team concept and guys were doing a lot of little things for each other out there and I've just found that it's slipped a little bit. But when you're losing some games too where you think you should have won maybe and you played pretty well but you didn't find yourself on the winning side of things. It's adversity and you've got to deal with it and I think we didn't do a good enough job of it last night dealing with it. We just kind of went through the motions in the game.

"We got some good players back in the lineup last night and I thought they both (Krug and Sundqvist) played well."

Berube's thoughts on the Saad-Sundqvist-Barbashev line, "I was thinking about things and I wanted to put an identity line together and to me, that's an identity line. It's a line that's going to do the right things, forecheck hard, play hard, be physical, hard on the other team, play against anybody. I thought they were good in practice today too."

As for O'Reilly and Perron back together, that match seemed inevitable, and with O'Reilly looking like himself again Tuesday, Berube said, "He had a great game last night. He could have had two goals and he got two assists in the game. He could have had a four-point night. He's just not scoring. He's been getting opportunities, hit a post, he hit a post a couple games ago too I believe, but the looks are there, his work ethic was outstanding last night, I thought he led by example."

Perron hasn't scored in 10 games (has four assists) after five in six games to start the season.

"We've got to get David going too. David's got to get himself going," Berube said. "He's got to work, he's got to dig in and work, compete and that's his game. He can't be waiting for things to happen. He's got to go earn them."

Is Perron getting enough scoring opportunities? 

"He's getting some, not enough. Not enough," Berube said. "He needs to get more."

Not only Perron, but the Blues, after averaging 4.7 goals per game through their first six games, are finding scoring tougher to come by in the past nine, scoring just 2.4 per game.

"One of the things is finishing, scoring," Berube said. "We get chances. I think in the game, we get a number of good, quality  chances, but chances are chances and they're important. 

"You want to out-chance the other team and I think we've done a good job of that this year, but the other side of it lately, we haven't found the back of the net enough. On the other side of it, we need to do a better job of our special teams have slipped a little bit, so the PK's got to be better and the power play's got to produce for us and just the team game, all-around team game. I think when things aren't going great, you've go to rely on your teammates and you've got to rely on your team game."

On the defensive side, the Blues tried the Krug-Parayko pair to begin last season, but Parayko just wasn't himself with the back issues, and with his recent play with Scandella and the two of them having a tough go of it, this is something they'll look at with Krug playing well.

"Puck mover with a defender, a big defender and that's basically kind of how I got the D paired up right now," Berube said.

Scandella was paired with Robert Bortuzzo and the intriguing pair of Perunovich-Faulk will be worth watching.

"Definitely. I think that Faulk really wants the kid to do well personally," Berube said. "He has a personal side to him. Last night when they were together, they did a good job, played well together."