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Jim Parsons
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Jim Parsons is a freelance journalist, covering the Edmonton Oilers and trending NHL stories for The Hockey News. He's also a regular contributor to NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, and The Sportster Follow Jim on Twitter or his social media accounts.
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Blues' Jimmy Snuggerud Is Already Impressing Big Time
On March 28, the St. Louis Blues signed top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud to a three-year entry-level contract. This was after the 20-year-old forward posted 24 goals, 27 assists, and 51 points in 40 games this season with the University of Minnesota.
Following signing his ELC, Snuggerud quickly made his NHL debut with the Blues on April 1 against the Detroit Red Wings. During it, the 2022 first-round pick did not look out of place and recorded two shots in 10:43 of ice time.
During the Blues' following matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 3, Snuggerud took another step forward. The Minnesota native recorded his first NHL point by picking up the primary assist on Jake Neighbours' third-period goal.
Snuggerud showed off his impressive playmaking skills leading up to the goal, too. While stickhandling the puck in the offensive zone, Snuggerud made a perfect feed across the slot to Neighbours before the latter fired it home.
This was a great play from Snuggerud, and the young forward showed just how solid of a passer he is with it. Overall, the youngster is fitting in quite nicely with the Blues early on, and it will be fascinating to see how he builds off this from here.
Recent Blues News
Blues Star Exits Penguins Matchup With Injury
Blues Send First-Round Pick Back To AHL
Blues Defenseman Continuing To Be Incredible Addition
Blues' Jordan Binnington Rewarded For Stellar Month
Blues Star Is Absolutely Thriving Right Now
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Blues Star Exits Penguins Matchup With Injury
The St. Louis Blues have announced that forward Dylan Holloway will not return to the team's April 3 contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins due to a lower-body injury.
Holloway's night was quite short, as he was limited to only 5:22 of ice time and eight shifts before suffering his injury.
With Holloway being one of the Blues' top forwards, it is undoubtedly concerning that he has suffered an injury. The Blues will be hoping that it is not a serious one, as it would be incredibly challenging for the Central Division club to replace his production if he needs to miss time.
Holloway, 23, is in the middle of a breakout year with the Blues. In 76 games this campaign, he has set new career highs with 26 goals, 37 assists, 63 points, and 165 hits.
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(4-3-25) Penguins-Blues Gameday Lineup
ST.
LOUIS – When the St. Louis Blues go for a franchise-tying 11-game
winning streak on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7 p.m.;
FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), they’ll have to do so against the team that
last was able to give them an ‘L.’
The
Blues (41-28-7) haven’t lost in three weeks to the day, and that
last loss on March 13 was against these very same Penguins
(30-34-11), by a 5-3 count.
Things
have drastically changed for the Blues, who are tied with the
Minnesota Wild with identical records and points, with the Wild
holding the tie-breaker based on regulation wins (33-30).
But
needless to say, the Blues have more than sharpened up since the last
time they played the Penguins.
“I
didn’t think we were hard enough offensively, we didn’t screen
their goalie,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “They did a good
job boxing us out. We’ve got to be harder offensively tonight in
order to have success. That’s the biggest takeaway.”
Penguins
coach Mike Sullivan, who knows a thing or two about taking a team
over in mid-season, feels the Blues are a team that’s humming and
credits Montgomery for the turnaround.
“He’s
done a good job,” Sullivan said. “Obviously they’ve gone on a
pretty good run here over the last month-plus. They’re 10-0 in
their last 10. I don’t think they’ve lost since the last time we
played them. That’s a pretty good run. Monty’s a good coach. He’s
done a good job with these guys.”
-
- -
The
Blues are not changing their lineup from Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime win
against the Detroit Red Wings, including playing 2022 first-round
pick (No. 23) Jimmy Snuggerud in his second NHL game.
“He
impressed me live,” Montgomery said. “It’s just his ability to
see the ice really well, made really good decisions and he battled
hard.
“I
think he’s played real well, looks comfortable. It’s been an easy
adjustment to be honest.”
One
change to the roster is the Blues assigning 2023 first-rounder and
No. 10 pick Dalibor Dvorsky to Springfield of the American Hockey
League after the 19-year-old played in his NHL debut on March 23
against the Nashville Predators but has been a healthy scratch in
each of the past four games.
“When
you’re 19 years old, you need to play games,” Montgomery said.
“Right now with our team’s playing so well, I didn’t see the
opportunity coming.”
-
- -
Blues
Projected Lineup:
Jake
Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan
Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Zack
Bolduc-Oskar Sundqvist-Jimmy Snuggerud
Alexey
Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Cam
Fowler-Nick Leddy
Philip
Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan
Suter-Tyler Tucker
Joel
Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Matthew Kessel, Alexandre Texier and Mathieu
Joseph. Colton Parayko (knee) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for
the season.
-
- -
Penguins
Projected Lineup:
Rutger
McGroarty-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Connor
Dewar-Rickard Rakell-Ville
Koivunen
Kevin
Hayes-Noel
Acciari-Philip
Tomasino
Danton
Heinen-Blake Lizotte-Joona
Koppanen
Matt
Grzelcyk-Kris Letang
Conor
Timmins-Erik Karlsson
Ryan
Graves-Vladislav Kolyachonok
Tristan
Jarry will start in goal; Alex Nedeljkovic will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches
include Ryan
Shea and
Emil Bemstrom.
Evgeni Malkin (upper body), P.O Joseph (upper body) and
Tommy
Novak (lower body) are
out.
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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-4 Overtime Win Against Penguins
ST.
LOUIS – The old adage that good teams find ways to win when they’re
not at their best has found its way to the St. Louis Blues once
again.
And
in doing do on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the same
team that was last in the NHL to put together a three-game winning
streak has now matched a franchise record 11 straight wins.
The
Blues were not at their best, but they found a way for a second
straight overtime game when Robert Thomas’ power-play goal at 2:12
won it, 5-4, after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period at
Enterprise Center.
Jake
Neighbours scored twice to surpass the 20-goal mark for the second
straight season, and Thomas and Jordan Kyrou each had a goal and an
assist for the Blues (42-28-7), who moved two points ahead of the
Minnesota Wild for the first wild card in the Western Conference.
They matched the Stanley Cup-winning team of 2018-19 for consecutive
wins (Jan. 23-Feb. 19) and won their 10th
in a row at home.
“It’s
been a fun ride,” Thomas said.
“We’ve beaten some really good teams and we’re playing really
good hockey. We just got to consistently be there every single night
and that’s what makes a great team and that’s what we’re on our
way to be.”
Added
forward Oskar Sundqvist, who was part of the 2019 team, “It's
awesome. I was here for the last 11 straight wins. It's a good
feeling in our group right now. Even if we haven't played our best
games our last two games, but we're finding ways to win. That's
what's important right now.”
Jimmy
Snuggerud had an assist for his first NHL point in his second game,
and Joel Hofer won his fifth straight start with 24 saves.
“Another
one of those games where we didn’t think we played to our standard,
but finding ways, goalies are playing well, guys are making big plays
in big moments and keep finding ways,” Neighbours said.
Here
are Thursday’s Three Takeaways --
*
The power play finally connected – Even with the Blues scoring four
times at 5-on-5, it was a game in which they could have put it away
with better special teams.
Earlier
in the game, they had a 38-second two-man advantage lumped in with a
four-minute double minor for high-sticking and did nothing with it.
The
Blues led the game 3-2 and had the chance to put the game away then
but their unwillingness to be more direct allowed the Penguins to
stay in the game despite Neighbours scoring at 5:56 on a great play
by Snuggerud both defensively, then starting the transition
offensively to make it 4-2.
But
on the 4-on-3 in overtime, after Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was
called for slashing Kyrou, the Blues had to be more direct, they had
to take advantage of the open ice.
It
wasn’t clean, but Thomas and Kyrou worked the puck off the left
side and after corralling the puck, Thomas wired a wrister high glove
on Tristan Jarry to end it.
“They
pressured hard and we weren’t able to beat it early,” Thomas
said. “I missed a couple good looks. We did have some good looks. I
think just more consistent on the 5-on-3 and the couple minutes, I
think we had six minutes of power play 5-on-4. Got to find a way to
do a better job early in the game, but it came through in the end.”
*
Staying with it despite frittering away third-period lead – The
first period was as poor as the Blues have played in quite some time,
and coach Jim Montgomery attributed it to “energy.”
The
Blues just weren’t connected on the ice, their puck play was
passive, zone exits weren’t clean, and the Penguins (30-34-12) had
something to do with it, but they finally turned the game around in
the second period.
“We
just don't seem to have juice, and it's going to happen, but it's a
sign of a good team when you don't have our legs and we're still
pulling out wins,” Montgomery
said.
“This is a hard league to win in, as we found out earlier in the
year.
“I
thought we were significantly better (in the second period), I
thought we skated, I thought we worked better and I thought it led to
a lot of opportunities.”
Neighbours
tied the game 1-1 on a beautiful sequence with Philip Broberg, Pavel
Buchnevich and Thomas, who fed Neighbours on the last pass 39 seconds
in.
After
Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead during a sequence that Thomas took a stick
to the face on a follow-through shot by Rickard Rakell, Buchnevich
tied the game 2-2 after Nathan Walker broke up a play in the neutral
zone, and Buchnevich used his stick magic to lift a backhand in at
6:48 before Kyrou whipped a wrister past Jarry for their first lead
at 3-2 at 8:05 on an incredibly strong flipper out of the zone in
stride by Cam Fowler.
“Got
the perfect spin on it, English on it too, right,” Montgomery said.
“So he could skate right into it. It was nice.”
But
after the Neighbours goal, the Blues, who were 0-for-4 on the power
play at the time, were not going to get any more man advantages
unless it was something egregious, and the Penguins had yet to have a
power play.
But
when a failed clearance of a puck seconds later resulted in Justin
Faulk taking a holding minor, the Penguins didn’t waste much time
all of the sudden making a game of it when it didn’t have to be a
game when Rakell scored from the high slot at 11:15 of the third
period, using all of 30 seconds to score on their lone power play to
make it 4-3.
The
Blues didn’t do a good job of closing the game out the rest of the
way either, and when Pittsburgh pulled Jarry, eventually it was
Rutger McGroarty scoring his first NHL goal at 19:35 to tie the game
4-4.
“We
have won all different kinds of games, but I am not happy that we
were up 4-2 in the third and we went to overtime,” Montgomery said.
“We have to close out games. We have to get better.
“Attention
to detail, knowing your responsibilities. There’s a couple mistakes
there in that (tying goal). It’s a wraparound goal, they make a
power move, but we shouldn’t be that far from the net.”
*
Holloway goes down, now what – When Blues forward Dylan Holloway
left the game late in the first period with a lower-body injury, as a
result of a McGroarty check in the Blues’ offensive zone along the
wall at 17:09 and Holloway trying one more shift roughly a minute
later, it would remove a 26-goal scorer and 63-point player from the
Blues’ lineup.
Now
what?
Who
can jump into the top six and play with Kyrou and Brayden Schenn, or
whoever it may be?
Well,
Zack Bolduc comes to mind. Snuggerud, who made a strong defensive
stick play that ultimately led to a beautiful pass to Neighbours for
the Blues’ fourth goal, would get more ice time and more
responsibilities.
Game
management was important at that time, and those that handled the
extra ice time handled the minutes effectively.
“It’s
kind of just a little scrambly on the bench,” Neighbours said.
“We’re trying to mix and match lines, get guys out there.
Obviously that’s an elite player for us, someone who plays in all
situations and a really important piece for our team. But we had to
focus on the task at hand. We weren’t playing great and obviously
it sucked losing Dylan. Just hope he’s OK and we get him back.”
Snuggerud
finished with 16:22 of ice time, significantly more than the 10:43 he
played on Tuesday in a 2-1 overtime win against the Detroit Red
Wings.
“Really
impressive. He’s been making a lot of plays,” Montgomery said of
Snuggerud. “I think once he gets used to the speed, strength and
less time and space in the NHL, he’s going to be a real good player
for us. He’s already playing well.
“It
gets a little difficult. It can, but we have a lot of players than
can play all three forward positions. And I found out that Snuggerud
can play left wing. It just worked out that I could manage the bench
quite easily with the depth of the talented players that we have.
“I
haven’t seen any egregious mistakes, and in the D-zone,
surprisingly, because he’s never played our D-zone before, he’s
executing really well. He cut the top off the one time, sprinted out,
made sure they stayed on the same side of the ice and Sunny was able
to get out and kill it. It’s a sign of a really smart player
because our D-zone’s very different than man-on-man.”
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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-4 Win Against Avalanche
ST.
LOUIS – There
are currently five St. Louis Blues players who were part of the
longest winning streak in franchise history in 2019.
Jordan
Binnington, Brayden Schenn, Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas and Colton
Parayko (injured) can now stake claim to a second historical streak.
The
Blues set a new benchmark with their 12th
straight win when they held off the Colorado Avalanche, 5-4 at
Enterprise on Saturday.
For
all the talk about this current Blues team not being able to put
together a three-game winning streak as late as January, right now,
they can’t seem to lose a game no matter how what the score is.
“It’s
very cool,” Binnington said after making 35 saves. “It’s good
to enjoy these moments, especially at home. It’s really fun to play
here right now and you can tell there’s good energy all around. At
the same time, we’ve got to focus and keep looking forward while
we’re here.”
Robert
Thomas continues to tear a blazing trail of points; he had a goal and
four assists to give him 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in an
eight-game point streak; Cam Fowler had three assists and Zack Bolduc
scored two power-play goals to lead the Blues (43-28-7), who are now
four points clear of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card from
the Western Conference.
And
they’re doing this without Parayko, who’s been out with a left
knee injury since March 5, and now Dylan Holloway, who’s week to
week with a lower-body injury.
“We've
lost some really good, important players to our lineup,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said.
“It means we're good. We're a good hockey team.
“I
am proud of that group in there to be able to overcome all of the
adversity that we've had this year, whether that was self-inflicted
by us. It doesn't matter. We've overcome it. I'm proud of that group
for what they've achieved.”
The
Blues built a 4-0 lead before getting a bit complacent and then
having to fend off the Avalanche (47-27-4), who the Blues also beat
2-1 in Denver a week ago Saturday, giving Colorado (6-2-1) its only
two regulation losses in the past nine games.
“We’re
playing the right way,” said
Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich,
who
scored his 100th
goal with the Blues.
“We’re playing for each other. Sacrifice for the team and it’s
working right now. We should keep going.”
Let’s
look at Saturday’s Three Takeaways:
*
Winning the special teams – The Blues didn’t do themselves any favors,
especially early, by taking three minor penalties in the first
period, and despite being outshot 13-4 on special teams by the
Avalanche, the Blues won the game with special teams’ play.
The
Avalanche had 12 shots on their three power plays; the Blues had
three shots on their three power plays. But they made two of theirs
count and won the special teams’ battle 2-0, thanks to a pair of
power-play goals by Bolduc, each in the bumper position and receiving
passes from Thomas.
The
first came at the 49-second mark of the opening period, or 18 seconds
after Joel Kiviranta was whistled for cross checking Jordan Kyrou, to
give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
And
the second came at 8:53 of the second period, similar play, but this
time, Bolduc had some time to whip a shot top shelf on Mackenzie
Blackwood for a 4-0 lead.
“You’ve
got to be ready,” Bolduc
said.
“I’ve been trying to find the open space. You never know when the
puck’s going to come your way. I just try to set myself up and be
ready to shoot. I want to hit the net for sure.
“I
don’t know but teams will adjust. It’ll be on us to get better
and find other options that will
be open.”
*
Good sticks, forecheck – Despite getting a bit complacent and allowing
Colorado back into the game with a couple late second-period goals,
the Blues had good sticks in this game.
They
broke up a lot of plays, and it was everyone on the ice doing the
job. Whether it was the Radek Faksa line with Nathan Walker and
Alexey Toropchenko grinding pucks down low after winning them, or
Jimmy Snuggerud, in his third NHL game breaking plays up playing with
Buchnevich and Thomas, knocking pucks down and then instead of being
overwhelmed, putting pucks into good areas to go and forecheck them
back, which the Blues did. Or Thomas defending the Nathan MacKinnon
line all night and until MacKinnon scored with an extra attacker,
shutting one of the NHL’s best players down.
It
was a collective effort to break up any rush plays the Avalanche was
trying to create.
“I
thought our sticks and our angling above them,” Montgomery said.
“Third period, they scored two pulled goalies situations, but
outside of that, I didn’t think we gave them much and I thought we
had great chances (off good defensive plays). Bolduc had a good
chance to get his hat trick and Snuggerud had two in a row there
among others.”
Speaking
of Snuggerud, he and Thomas had good stick plays that helped set up
Buchnevich’s goal at 1:01 of the third period for a 3-0 lead.
It
came after Jake Neighbours also using his stick off the bench to
create O-zone time, and Neighbours eventually finding a Thomas pass
in the low slot and conversion for a 2-0 lead at 7:41 of the first
period.
“(We)
put
some pucks deep, play below the goal line,” Buchnevich
said.
‘We got first eight minutes, we kind of dominate, and got the early
power-play goal. ‘Boldy’ have a good shot, and it's easier when
you play with the lead.”
*
Binnington’s key saves – Forget that he allowed four goals, and
none of his own doing. Jordan Binnington was rock solid, and his
saves, especially during Colorado’s barrage of shots on the man
advantage were crucial.
Sometimes
your goalie has to be your best penalty killer and Binnington was.
“We
found a way to get it done,” Binnington said. “Obviously they’ve
got some high-end talent. We found a way to get it done and that’s
just a testament to all our guys and our penalty killers. You got a
guy like Walker, I don’t know how many blocked shots he had. Just
point blank and ‘Torps’ too. We’re just sacrificing and playing
the right way and finding a way to win.”
Binnington
also made a breakaway on Artturi Lehkonen after a Bolduc mishap in
the neutral zone, and there was also a reflex save off a rebound by
Valeri Nichushkin in the second.
“He
was really good,” Montgomery
said.
“They had a lot of shot attempts. It was a hard-working night for
him. It was clear that they wanted a shot-volume night tonight. We
ate a lot of pucks blocking them, but he was there and he was really
seeing the puck well through traffic.”
It all led to Binnington winning his 10th straight home start to tie a franchise record, tying John Davidson and Jaroslav Halak.
The
Avalanche did get two sixth-attacker goals, including one with 8.1
seconds remaining by Sam Malinski that made the score academic after
Thomas hit the empty net off the goal post and in at 19:30.
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Blues Top Defenseman Progressing In Right Direction
MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Colton
Parayko was his usual smiles in the St. Louis Blues locker room on
Friday.
No,
the top-pair defenseman is not yet ready to return to the lineup for
the Blues, who can set a franchise record for consecutive wins with
12 on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche, but Parayko continues
to trend in the right direction.
He’s
been skating regularly the past couple weeks since injuring his left
knee near the end of overtime of a 3-2 shootout win against the Los
Angeles Kings on March 5 and having a scope done to fix the issue.
Each step has been positive and there have been no setbacks.
“Good.
Coming along. Feeling well. Just continuing to progress. All is
good,” Parayko
said. “They’ve
done a really good job of helping me come along and all that.
Definitely on the right track. Just continue to make sure that I am
ready as much as possible and come back as strong as possible. I’m
ready to go as soon as I feel ready and I’m 100 percent confident
to do that. Everything has been great. All the staff and medical
staff has done a great job. Great to work with. From my standpoint,
everything is trending in the right direction. Looking forward to
getting back on the ice with the guys.”
With
the Blues currently on their winning streak, the team has afforded
Parayko, who was setting career numbers in goals (15) and tied in
points (35) before the setback, the time to heal properly and not
attempt to rush him back for a playoff push.
“Yes,
because I’ll tell you why. We weren’t playing great yesterday (a
5-4 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins) at
one point in the game and my thought was, ‘I wonder if he’ll be
ready tomorrow night,’” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery joked.
“So yes, that goes through (your mind), but I’m not worried about
it now because of the results.”
Parayko
was injured off a face-off play and sort of toe picked from the back,
stumbled and fell, landing more so on his left leg and torquing his
left knee. He said it didn’t hurt until after he got up off the
ice.
“It
didn’t hurt
initially,” Parayko
said.
“Right when I feel, no, but as soon as I got up, right away, kind
of in the sense when I got up. Not on the initial fall, no. When I
straightened my leg is when I actually felt it. I didn’t really
know how bad it was, but I thought I would feel some pain, some
discomfort I guess. But I wasn’t sure how bad I was going to be. On
the initial fall, I kind of fell back and as soon as I got up, maybe
it was adrenaline at that point.”
And
with the Blues on their current run, Parayko said he’s enjoyed the
ride from afar in a sense but would rather be on the ice battling
with his teammates. However, there’s comfort from his mindset also
knowing there’s no extra urgency and rush to get back before he’s
100 percent.
“They’re
playing really good, fun to watch,” Parayko
said.
“Not great to watch because I’d rather be playing, but honestly,
from a spectator’s point of view and my teammates’ standpoint of
view, just proud of how they’ve been playing over these past 11
games. Even the game before, the last game we dropped was against
Pittsburgh (5-3
on March 13) and
I actually thought we had a really, really good game that game. From
the time that I’ve been out and had the chance to watch, it’s
been incredible to watch us come together and make this push for the
playoffs, come together as a team. Obviously we know that we have a
really good team.
“We
were struggling to put three in a row together for
a while there.
But for our group to do this and put it together, it’s been
special. They’re playing amazing.”
Parayko
has been part of each 11-game winning streak, more so on the ice in
2019 than this one as a spectator and sees similarities in the two
teams.
“There’s
for sure parallel a little bit,” he
said.
“When you’re feeling good, you’re finding ways to win. You’re
playing really well and finding ways to win and sometimes you’re
not at your best and still finding ways to win, that’s what good
teams do, especially at this time of year. Obviously the teams are
built a little differently and we have different personnel. I think
the mentality is definitely very similar. When you start putting
winning streaks like this together, you build confidence in your
group, you build confidence in winning. I think that that’s huge.
“Obviously
it’s tough to win 82 but when you kind of get a streak like this
going and you drop a game maybe, it’s like, ‘OK, no big deal.’
We know what we’re capable of and we have the ability to come to
the rink and expect to win. It’s good for our group. Everybody’s
contributing in different ways, which is a lot of fun to watch. You
never know who’s going to be the hero, who’s going to make a big
block, who’s going to score the game-winner, etc, etc. So many
little moments that would make the big moment. That’s the fun
thing.”
Even
though he hasn’t been part of this streak on the ice, Parayko said
the foundation was building before that.
“Honestly
I kind of felt it a little bit before 4 Nations,” he
said.
“Then we went into the break and I think we came back and had a
great mentality, understood where we were in the standings,
understood where we were and what not. We have a great team, great
players, guys that are dynamic, guys that have contributed in many
ways. We knew that and with saying that, it was one of those things
where it came together and guys built confidence and we all built
each other up. A lot of fun. It’s been good.”
Parayko
is skating fluidly and gaining confidence each time he hits the ice.
His return isn’t far off, but he needs to gain that confidence to
completely feel comfortable in joining game action.
That’s
why coach Montgomery cautioned.
“I
saw a couple instances out there where for me, I wouldn’t have the
confidence to play him even if he told me to come and he’s a
player,” Montgomery
said.
“He’s getting close, but to me, he’s not ready.”
“A
little bit (of
mobility) and
just confidence in it,” Parayko
said.
‘Just rebuilding confidence in the knee. Just little movements. It
just takes confidence. I guess it’s natural that we as humans think
about things like that. You want it to be where it’s just one of
those things where you just go and play. That’s when it’s at its
best when you can just not think and go and play.”
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Blues Top Forward Out Week To Week
MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The
St. Louis Blues will have to be without one of their promising young
forwards for at least the foreseeable future.
Dylan
Holloway did not practice on Friday due to a lower-body injury he
suffered in a 5-4 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on
Thursday and is listed as week to week.
“He
went and saw a doctor today and he’s not back yet so we don’t
have information, but he’s not going to be a player for the next
couple of games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Saturday and
Monday, he’s not going to play. That I know.”
Holloway,
who has 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) in 77 games, was checked in
the offensive zone by Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty at the 17:09
mark; he came on for a final shift with 1:16 remaining but left the
ice quickly hunched over and was ruled out the rest of the game after
leaving the bench area.
At
practice on Friday, the Blues shuffled around their forward lines,
only leaving the line of Radek Faksa, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan
Walker together.
Jimmy
Snuggerud, the No. 23 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft who had an assist –
his first NHL point – on Thursday in his second game, moved up to
the top line and was paired with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich,
while Jake Neighbours slid down to skate with Brayden Schenn and
Jordan Kyrou, and Mathieu Joseph, a healthy scratch the past two
games, moved onto ‘The 70s’ line with Zack Bolduc and Oskar
Sundqvist.
“The
good thing is we have a lot of options,” Montgomery said. “You
have Bolduc, you have Snuggerud, you have Mojo. I don’t want to
split up the ‘Faksi’ line, they’re just too important to our
team identity and how I use them. We have a lot of guys that are
playing really good hockey. Unfortunatey, ‘Tex’ is out or he
would be another option. Snuggerud has shown a lot. I like ‘The
70s’ line. I like it a lot. That and moving Jake with Schenn and
Kyrou is going to allow me to get more ice time for Jake.
“[Snuggerud’s]
shown us a lot. He’s a hockey player. He’s making plays and he’s
competing. As long as that maintains and stays up, I say that
cautiously. This is the NHL and to be an every day player in the NHL
is not easy. You see it a lot with young players.”
Texier,
who played in four straight games before being a healthy scratch the
past two, has an upper-body injury and is also unavailable for
Saturday’s game against the Avalanche.
“Upper
body issue that he went to see a doctor about, what treatment he
needs to get back as soon as possible,” Montgomery said. “I think
he is day to day, not a player tomorrow. That’s all the information
I have. He’s not back from the doctor either.”
As
for reuniting ‘The 70s Line’ again, Montgomery said,.”Speed,
how they attack the blue line with speed and how ‘Sunny’ gives
that line incredible details, especially in our own end and in
tracking. And the other two work.”
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Exciting Blues Prospect Is Red-Hot In AHL Right Now
St. Louis Blues prospect Nikita Alexandrov is enjoying a great season down in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Springfield Thunderbirds. In 44 games this campaign with the AHL squad, he has 21 goals, 28 assists, 49 points, and a plus-10 rating.
Yet, what's more impressive about Alexandrov's strong season with the Thunderbirds is that he is only getting better as it continues. The 24-year-old forward has been on fire lately, posting four goals and 10 points in his last eight contests. In addition, he has recorded 14 goals and 34 points in his previous 26 games. With numbers like these, he has been simply outstanding for the AHL squad.
Alexandrov has yet to play in a game this season for the Blues. However, if he continues to dominate the AHL, it will be interesting to see if it leads to him getting a shot on the NHL roster before the regular season is over.
In 51 career NHL games over two seasons with the Blues, he has three goals, six assists, and nine points.
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Blues Send First-Round Pick Back To AHL
The St. Louis Blues have announced that forward Dalibor Dvorsky has been assigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Dvorsky, 19, was recalled to the Blues' roster on March 22. Dvorsky made his NHL debut for St. Louis on March 23 against the Nashville Predators, where he had 10:40 of ice time. This was the only game he played with the Blues during his recall.
Dvorsky will now look to continue to make an impact with Springfield after being sent back down. The 2023 first-round pick has had a solid first season with the AHL squad, posting 20 goals, 23 assists, and 43 points in 57 games. He was also named to the AHL All-Star Classic for his strong play.
While Dvorsky has been sent back down to the AHL, there is no question that the youngster has an incredibly bright future with the Blues. It will be intriguing to see how he performs with Springfield from here.
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(4-5-25) Avalanche-Blues Gameday Lineup
ST.
LOUIS – The
injury news could not have come at a worse time for Dylan Holloway.
The
St. Louis Blues forward was going to miss at least the next two
games, including a Saturday home date against the Colorado Avalanche
(6 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) and to begin the start of the final
road trip of the season starting Monday against the Winnipeg Jets.
They
do this putting their franchise-tying 11-game winning streak and
franchise-record 10-game home winning streak on the line against a
formidable opponent the Blues just beat 2-1 a week ago on Saturday.
Now
with a diagnosis that will sideline Holloway week to week, the Blues
(42-28-7), who are in the thick of the playoff chase, two points
ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card in the Western
Conference, must now live life without 63 points (26 goals, 37
assists) in their lineup.
“We
were hoping for better news; we were hoping for day to day instead of
week to week and we’ll just see how it progresses now,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said. “Now it’s reality. We know what it is.
We’ll see how we do with his recovery.”
What
it means is Jimmy Snuggerud will move into a top six role, playing
with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.
“It’ll
be fun,” Snuggerud said. “It’s fun hockey this time of the
year. I’m fortunate to be in the spot that I’m in right now. I’m
just going to make the most of it and try and play my game.
“They’re
really good playmakers. Try and shoot the puck in certain situations,
but try to get the puck back to them too, have good communication on
the bench, on the ice, whatever it is.”
The
goal is to get Holloway get ready as close to the playoffs as
possible at this point.
“For
him, that’s all there is,” Montgomery said. “Week to week, it’s
just a different type of injury we haven’t dealt with. It’s how
quickly does it mend. Is it a week, is it two weeks? I don’t know.”
So
what will the Blues miss most with Holloway out?
“’Holly’s
a different animal,” Montgomery said. “I think he leads us with
his dogged, relentless pursuit of the puck. Someone’s going to have
to fulfill that, but we have a lot of players that have the ability
and capability to fulfill that type of role.
“It
just goes back to the herd, the pack mentality. We’ve been able to
go well without [Colton] Parayko, and I don’t think there could
have been a bigger loss than Parayko. And we’ve kind of just dealt
with it. We didn’t have ‘Buchy’ for two games I believe and
there again is another top six winger that plays in all the important
situations just like ‘Holly’ does.”
That
someone will start off being Jake Neighbours, who will slot into
Holloway’s role with Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou.
“Jake
Neighbours is the perfect teammate,” Montgomery said. “He’ll do
whatever the team needs. And I don’t even need to talk to him about
it because I remember when I had him playing with ‘Sunny’ and
‘Boldy’ for a while. I brought him in after about two or three
games and I was like, ‘I want to play you higher up in the lineup,
but this is why we need you there.’ He said, ‘I figured that’s
what you needed.’ His mindset, he knows what ‘Holly’ brought to
that line. He’s going to do it in a different way. He doesn’t
skate like ‘Holly,’ but his little details and his greasiness in
and around the net is something every line can use and that’s why
his line’s been so successful when he’s been with ‘Tommer’
and ‘Buchy.’”
But
for Snuggerud to jump into a top role playing in just his third game
speaks volumes of what the coaches already think of him.
“I
think the important think for ‘Snuggy’ is to concentrate on the
details that have helped him have success so far,” Montgomery said.
“He gets open, he supports the puck well, defensively his details
have been really good. If he just keeps doing that, I’m not going
to worry about production. This kid can score, and he can make
plays.”
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- -
Blues
Projected
Lineup:
Pavel
Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake
Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Zack
Bolduc-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph
Alexey
Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Cam
Fowler-Nick Leddy
Philip
Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan
Suter-Tyler Tucker
Jordan
Binnington will
start in goal; Joel
Hofer will
be the backup.
The
healthy scratch
includes Matthew
Kessel. Colton
Parayko (knee), Dylan Holloway (lower
body) and Alexandre Texier (upper body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle)
is out for the season.
-
- -
Avalanche
Projected Lineup:
Artturi
Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Valeri
Nichushkin
Jimmy
Vesey-Brock Nelson-Ross Colton
Miles
Wood-Charlie Coyle-Joel Kiviranta
Parker
Kelly-Jack Drury-Logan O’Connor
Devon
Toews-Cale Makar
Ryan
Lindgren-Sam Malinski
Keaton
Middleton-Erik Johnson
Mackenzie
Blackwood will start in goal; Scott Wedgewood will be the backup.
The
Avalanche have no healthy scratches. Josh
Manson (upper body), Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Tucker Poolman (head),
Martin Necas (upper body), Jonathan Drouin (lower body) and
Samuel
Girard (lower body) are
all out.
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Blues Top Prospect Jimmy Snuggerud Has Golden Opportunity
St. Louis Blues top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud had a big moment in the club's April 3 contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 6-foot-1 forward recorded his first NHL point by picking up the primary assist on Jake Neighbours' goal.
Now, after his strong night against the Penguins, Snuggerud is being rewarded. At the club's morning skate, Snuggerud was moved up to the Blues' top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, with Dylan Holloway out due to injury.
Assuming they stick to their morning skate lines for their April 5 contest against the Colorado Avalanche, Snuggerud will have a golden opportunity to show the Blues what he can do playing in a more prominent role. In addition, he now has the chance to play on a line with two of the Blues' top forwards.
Snuggerud showed at the collegiate level with the University of Minnesota that he is a highly skilled offensive player. In 40 games this season with the school, he dominated, posting 24 goals and 51 points. Over his entire three-year stint with the school, he had 66 goals, 69 assists, and 135 points in 119 contests.
It will now be fascinating to see what Snuggerud can do playing on a line with two stars like Thomas and Buchnevich from here.
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St. Louis Blues Call Up Top Prospect From AHL
The St. Louis Blues have announced that they have recalled forward Dalibor Dvorsky from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Dvorsky was sent back down to the Thunderbirds on April 3 but is now heading right back to the Blues' roster. The 19-year-old forward will look to impress during his latest opportunity with the NHL squad from here.
Dvorsky made his NHL debut for the Blues on March 23 against the Nashville Predators. During the contest, the young forward had 10:40 time on ice.
Down at the AHL level this season with the Thunderbirds, Dvorsky has been very impactful. In 59 games, he has 20 goals, 24 assists, and 44 points. He was also named to the AHL All-Star Classic due to his strong play.
Dvorsky will now aim to take advantage of receiving another shot on the Blues' roster from here. The 2023 tenth-overall pick is one of the club's most promising prospects and has the potential to blossom into a top-six forward at the NHL level later down the road. Thus, all eyes will be on him during this latest chance on the Blues' roster.
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