Blues to scratch Walker, Bolduc, insert Joseph, Texier looking for that elusive consistency; Blues set to host Flames in back-to-back games

ST. LOUIS – Jim Montgomery was serious after Saturday’s 2-1 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets when he talked about the St. Louis Blues inconsistent play.

So when the Blues (20-20-4) take on the Calgary Flames (21-14-7) in a set of back-to-back games here at Enterprise Center, beginning today at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), there will be two lineup changes in the works.

Alexandre Texier and Mathieu Joseph are in, Zack Bolduc and Nathan Walker come out.

So what is the coach looking for?

“A spark,” he said. “Joseph is someone we think can help our penalty kill and hopefully create a little more offense on the line he’s on and Texier is a guy that has gone in and done a really good job. If you look at the points he has in his last five games, I think it’s like three or four. There’s that, but both of them need to bring the consistency that we’re looking for in our team. And this is not about those two individuals, it’s about our team. We’ve got to value what winning hockey looks like and managing games significantly better. Being predictable to your teammates, linemates so that we know where the puck’s going or we’re forcing the puck to a certain area so that we can kill more plays and end up with more turnovers, which leads to more O-zone time.”

Joseph has been a healthy scratch five of the past seven games, and Texier, who has two goals and three assists in the past seven games he’s played in, has been scratched the past two games.

When the team is looking for a consistent lineup, players in the fringe have to find ways to try and stay in.

As for Joseph, how does he do that?

“I think in general, being consistent on the forecheck, I think winning battles and things like that,” Joseph said. “We have some depth in this team and I feel like some guys are in and out like that, but for me personally, I think it’s bring my energy, bring my speed and be good in my role.”

Bolduc has shown flashes of being dynamic when in the lineup, but there goes that word again (consistency), and he will sit for the second time in five games and just the eighth time this season. He has a three-game assist streak, but here’s what Montgomery is looking for.

“Bolduc is a tremendously talented young hockey player that competes hard, has a tremendous amount of skill and someone that I think is going to be a really good hockey player in this league but those points I just talked about are very inconsistent and it’s a learning process,” he said. “We’re watching film with him, just like we are other players, but he’s got to learn and value that as much as his importance to the plays he makes and the bursts of speed and the line rushes that make him such a talented hockey player that we value.”

- - -

When the Blues are looking for a consistent game, it’s been there on off days when they practice. It’s been a challenge, however, translating it over to games. Why is that?

“I think at the end of the day when you’re not performing consistently in games, that’s a mental thing and you need to be ready to play every night,” said Blues forward Jake Neighbours, who will move to the top line tonight. “Our practices are good. We practice hard when we do get our practices. We make sure we take advantage of them. We’re usually pretty sharp and energetic and compete hard. It’s just about having a mindset as an individual to bring that into a game every night.”

As Montgomery said, “The positive is I’ve seen it in the way we practice. We practice the right way, in my opinion, pretty much all the time now. So the level of pace, the level of execution, the effort level in practice has been consistent. We need that translate to games. You know games, it’s well documented by you guys and everybody that we’ve been inconsistent, and it’s accurate.”

So how do they get over that mental hurdle of games?

“Preparation leads to consistency. What you value in your individual game that brings it to the overall improvement of our team game, that’s the area that we need to improve upon the most when we talk about the mental side of things.

“For me, the message when I talk to you guys isn’t for (the players) to hear (because that message has already been relayed to them beforehand). It’s about relating to our fans the things that are important to us as a team, which is playing hard for our fans, playing for this city, and doing it the right way game in, game out. We’re going to get there and the things we’re talking about are the things that are going to get us there.”

- - -

The Blues are chasing the Flames (21-14-7) in the standings and the vital importance of not only the next two games, but these games leading into the 4 Nations Face-Off will be very revealing and telling where they will be coming out on the other end of the two-week hiatus.

“The opportunity in front of us creates excitement and we will see when we drop the puck tonight the determination and the north hockey that we need to have to be able to establish ourselves against a real good hockey team,” Montgomery said. “Calgary’s playing really good hockey here, especially in their last five to seven games. It looks very similar to the way they started the season and that’s why they are seven games over .500 playing good hockey and we’re trying to catch them.”

Calgary holds down the final Western Conference wild card but has two games in hand, so the thought of dropping even a point the next two games is almost something that can’t happen.

Neighbours called these games, “Very important. And they’re a tough team to play against too. They play hard and they don’t give you anything for free. It’s a game where we’re going to have to go out and earn both of them if we want them both. Obviously playing a team back to back just makes it that much more difficult. We’ve got to come ready.”

- - -

Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexandre Texier

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Mathieu Joseph

Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Scott Perunovich, Nathan Walker and Zack Bolduc. Nick Leddy (lower body) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

- - -

Flames Projected Lineup:

Jonathan Huberdeau-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil

Blake Coleman-Mikael Backlund-Matt Coronato

Rory Kerins-Yegor Sharangovich-Jakob Pelletier

Ryan Lomberg-Kevin Rooney-Walker Duehr

Kevin Bahl-Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley-MacKenzie Weegar

Jake Bean-Brayden Pachal

Dan Vladar could start in goal; Dustin Wolf would be the backup.

Healthy scratches could be Andrei Kuzmenko, Daniil Miromanov and Tyson Barrie. Connor Zary (knee) is out.