ST. LOUIS – It’s time to get back in the grind for the St. Louis Blues (25-26-5), who begin a rugged stretch of six games in nine days beginning with a 6 p.m. game on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets (39-14-3), the hottest team in the NHL and winners of eight straight.
The Blues last played two weeks ago on Feb. 8 in that wild 6-5 shootout win against the Chicago Blackhawks that went 10 rounds, but trailing the Vancouver Canucks by eight points for the second wild card and only 26 games remaining, it’s go time.
“We’ve talked about it a lot, there’s only 26 games and you’ve got to take it game by game,” Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “Can’t look too far the future. Right now it’s Winnipeg and obviously a really tough test and one of the best teams in the league. We’re coming back right into it, back-to-back against two really good teams and we’ve got to be ready to go, so we’re excited.”
The Blues have put in three full practice days and held an optional morning skate on Saturday with a back-to-back set against the Jets on Saturday and Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
“Mental preparation to start on time and then you’ve got to expect the team to get better every shift and more importantly, every period,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “You’ve got to get to your game as quick as possible. That’s the most important thing.
“I want to see us be more aggressive on the forecheck, more aggressive being tight-checking in all three zones to create more turnovers and I also want us to handle adversity better than we did previously.”
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Joel Hofer will get the start in goal, with Jordan Binnington to get the nod Sunday against the Avalanche after Binnington helped fuel Canada’s run to a championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Defenseman Colton Parayko, also part of Canada’s team, will play.
Alexandre Texier, who missed practice all week due to illness, is expected to draw into the lineup for Zack Bolduc, and Tyler Tucker, who missed three games with an upper-body injury, will play in place of Nick Leddy.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Alexandre Texier-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nick Leddy and Zack Bolduc. The Blues report no injuries.
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Jets Projected Lineup:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers-Vladislav Namestnikov-Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Alex Iafallo-David Gustafsson-Rasmus Kupari
Dylan Samberg-Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley-Dylan DeMelo
Ville Heinola-Colin Miller
Eric Comrie will start in goal; Kappo Kahkonen will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Connor Hellebuyck and Haydn Fleury. Josh Morrissey (illness) and Morgan Barron (upper body) are out.
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