Blues face important homestand against Kings, one of teams they're chasing for playoff positioning, play 11 of final 17 games at home; Bannister to keep same lineup together, aside from Binnington in goal, that won in Boston Monday; Kessel elevates Krug's game; Dean's NHL debut to wait

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- There's no denying the objective for the St. Louis Blues (33-29-3), as they prepare to go against one of those teams that they're trying to chase down, the Los Angeles Kings (33-20-11), when the puck drops at 6:30 p.m. today (TNT, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Los Angeles is technically at present time in third place in the Pacific Division, but the Kings are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights, who occupy the second wild card into the Western Conference, with 77 points. The Nashville Predators are the first wild card with 78 points, so no matter what the standings look like right now, the Blues, who have 17 games remaining in the regular season, of which 11 are at Enterprise Center, are eight points back.

"We've got to go out and play here," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "We know every game, every point's important for us. It's nice to be home coming off the road. I thought we had some good energy. The energy we had on the ice was good today. The guys know what we're up against here right now. We've got to come out and be ready to play.

"It's one game at a time. Obviously when you look at our schedule and the teams that we're playing, they're going to be important games. Obviously [tonight's] a big game for us in the standings with L.A. coming in here, coming off the game we had in Boston, we leave that game feeling good about ourselves and coming in here [Tuesday] feeling good about ourselves, but now we have to move on past that and get ourselves ready for L.A."

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Bannister will leave the same lineup together that won 5-1 against the Boston Bruins on Monday, aside from Jordan Binnington starting in goal for Joel Hofer.

That means Brayden Schenn, who is on a career-worst 17-game goal drought, will remain on the top line and play left wing with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, and Pavel Buchnevich will stay at center between kids Jake Neighbours and Zachary Bolduc.

"I liked the change that we made with putting 'Buchy' at middle and putting Schenn up front," Bannister said. "I thought they played well. I thought Schenner played really well on the wall in that game. As we got into the third period, I flipped 'Boldy' for 'Torpo' because they loaded up their one line just to give us a little protection there, but I thought the lines looked good.

"It's something that [Buchnevich] has got to get used to obviously. The responsibilities of a centermen, face-offs, obviously taking face-offs are another thing too, but just going with his switches, who he's staying with. I think after that, you're just kind of playing hockey. Overall I think he enjoys the challenge and I like the look there with him, 'Jakey' and 'Boldy.' I thought they played well together."

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The Blues can only hope for, or get something in the direction of, what they received from third-line skaters Brandon Saad, Kevin Hayes and Kasperi Kapanen on Monday.

The trio combined for seven points (three goals, four assists),with Kapanen leading the way with a goal and two assists in the game.

"I thought they played a very direct game," Bannister said. "They got a lot of pucks to the net, I thought they supported each other well. When they didn't have a lot of space, they put a lot of pucks underneath. When they were able to skate pucks and get into the zone, I thought they did a good job of doing that and finishing at the net."

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Matthew Kessel, recalled on Sunday from Springfield of the American Hockey League, stepped into the lineup in Boston as if he didn't miss a beat.

The defenseman played 13:45, had an assist and was a plus-2 on the win against the Bruins playing alongside Torey Krug, who certainly elevates his game playing with Kessel as his partner.

"I thought 'Kess' played really well," Bannister said. "I've always liked having righty-lefty. At the end of the day, you want to have your best players on the ice. We thought 'Kess' came in last night coming off, he played two games in three nights, so that was three in four. He played the way we saw him play when he was here with us. I thought he kept things simple, he was physical around his net, he was physical around the boards, transported pucks. I thought he had a real strong game for us.

"Obviously with the injury to [Justin] Faulk, bringing him up and then putting them together, they seem to have some chemistry and we saw that again last night. Sometimes that just happens. Guys play well off each other and they read off each other. They seem to have a good fit and comfortable to play off each other. They've had success together."

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Zach Dean's NHL debut will certainly wait.

After being recalled from the Thunderbirds on Monday, the 30th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Golden Knights will be a healthy scratch against the Kings.

"I think we need to get him in a couple practices here," Bannister said of Dean. "That's the fair thing to him and get him comfortable. I think today we'll have him come in and kind of go through the day like he is playing, sit in on the meetings at game time so he gets comfortable with that and our game day preparation. But from there, we'll go day to day. Certainly the way the guys played in Boston, they deserve the opportunity come back here and play tonight."

Dean talked about getting called up, the challenges he faced on his pro career and why he's picked it up of late in Springfield but understands he'll get his chance soon enough.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Zack Bolduc-Pavel Buchnevich-Jake Neighbours

Brandon Saad-Kevin Hayes-Kasperi Kapanen

Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker

Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel

Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk

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

Healthy scratches include Marco Scandella, Sammy Blais, Nikita Alexandrov, Tyler Tucker and Zach Dean. The Blues report no injuries.

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The Kings' projected lineup

Alex Turcotte-Anze Kopitar-Quinton Byfield

Trevor Moore-Phillip Danault-Kevin Fiala

Alex Laferriere-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Adrian Kempe

Arthur Kaliyev-Blake Lizotte-Trevor Lewis

Mikey Anderson-Drew Doughty

Vladislav Gavrikov-Matt Roy

Andreas Englund-Jordan Spence

Cam Talbot will start in goal; David Rittich will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Jacob Moverare. Viktor Arvidsson (lower body) and Carl Grundstrom (lower body) are out.