Blues look to remain hot on the road, 5-1-1 since Montgomery took over as coach, end pre-Christmas schedule with three more away from home; Tucker recalled in light of Joseph trade; Faksa not quite ready
The St. Louis Blues (15-15-3) will open their final pre-Christmas road trip when they face the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning (17-10-2) at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The Blues will look to slay a team that's been filling up the net as of late. Tampa has won three straight and five of six, averaging a whopping 5.17 goals per game in December.
As for the lineup, coach Jim Montgomery addressed the media and said that defenseman Philip Broberg, who took a maintenance day Thursday, will be out of the lineup due to illness, the team announced. Center Radek Faksa (lower-body injury) is doing well, doubtful for tonight, which means he will miss a fifth straight game but is likely to play Friday at Florida. Also, Alexandre Texier comes back into the lineup for Oskar Sundqvist and will play on the fourth line, moving Brandon Saad up to the third line.
Defenseman Tyler Tucker, called up from Springfield of the American Hockey League Thursday, would arrive in time for the game and will be in the lineup. He was called up in light of the trade of Pierre-Olivier Joseph to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
Jordan Kyrou will be going for six straight games with a goal tonight; he is second among active players currently behind Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, who has a seven-game goal streak.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Nathan Walker-Alexey Toropchenko
Alexandre Texier-Mathieu Joseph-Zack Bolduc
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Ryan Suter-Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker-Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
The healthy scratch will be Oskar Sundqvist. Philip Broberg (illness), Nick Leddy (lower body) and Radek Faksa (lower body) are out.
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Lightning Projected Lineup:
Jake Guentzel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Conor Geekie
Gage Goncalves-Nick Paul -Mitchell Chaffee
Zemgus Girgensons-Luke Glendening-Michael Eyssimont
Victor Hedman-Darren Raddysh
Ryan McDonagh-Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg-Nick Perbix
Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in goal; Jonas Johansson will be the backup.
The healthy scratches are Cam Atkinson and Declan Carlile. J.J. Moser (upper body) is out.
