Thomas to miss with lower-body injury; Bjugstad returns after 15-game absence; Joseph to IR to make room; Hofer starts in goal
ST. LOUIS – Nick Bjugstad is back and Robert Thomas is out for the St. Louis Blues (17-21-8), who try to end a three-game losing streak and look to avoid falling five games under .500 for the first time when they host the Carolina Hurricanes (24-14-4) at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+, HULU, ESPN 101.1-FM).
With Thomas, it’s a day to day situation from an incident Dec. 31 late in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche that coach Jim Montgomery said is something that has recurred following Avalanche forward Zakhar Bardakov falling on his leg/knee area.
“He just re-aggravated it,” Montgomery said. “It’s day to day and it’s just a comfort level of playing with the pain tolerance.”
Thomas will miss his fifth game this season after missing four games earlier in the season following an upper-body injury stemming from a hit by Alex DeBrincat of the Detroit Red Wings.
So it means the Blues will be missing their top forward and top defenseman, with Philip Broberg out Tuesday in concussion protocol.
For Bjugstad, who missed 15 games with an upper-body injury (concussion protocol) following a hit by Nikita Zadorov against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 9, he was activated off injured reserve and to make room, Mathieu Joseph was placed on IR.
“I think we miss his heaviness, another right-shot center to take face-offs, another guy who can penalty kill,” Montgomery said of Bjugstad. “But 5-on-5, it’s that heaviness that he can bring to our offensive end especially and back defending our own end from a centerman.”
Bjugstad will center a line with Pavel Buchnevich and Jonatan Berggren.
“We left the lines together there for six games in a row. The continuity was good in some aspects and certain aspects we were starting to see tendencies in lines that we just wanted to see a different look,” Montgomery said. “We thought ‘Buchy’ and Berggren playing together, right before the Christmas break, they seemed to have some offensive chemistry together. And it’s good to have a veteran player with a younger winger. Same thing with [Brayden] Schenn, he’s between two young guys and him and [Otto] Stenberg were playing really well together when they were playing together previously as well.”
For Stenberg, Tuesday will be his 13th NHL game and you have to wonder going through the rigors of an NHL season, if there would be dips in his game.
“We haven’t seen a dip in his battle level and we haven’t seen a dip in him being tired,” Montgomery said. “I do think the last game was the first time we saw any sort of that, but it was also the first time in his career that he was playing three in four on the road and in three different time zones. That’s an adjustment to anybody’s body. I’m curious to see how he responds tonight getting back home.”
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The Hurricanes did not hold a morning skate after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Monday, but there will certainly be some major challenges facing one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s two-fold,” Montgomery said. “This is the best offensive team I’ve seen from Carolina. They’re much more dynamic off the rush than they have been from what I’ve seen in years past, and then the puck pressure, the 200-foot puck pressure in all three zones is the heaviest and hardest in the league. Florida does a tremendous job of their puck pressure too. But in the neutral zone, they’re a 1-1-3, so you do have a little time and space there. You don’t have that time and space against Carolina. That would be the difference and they’re very similar in the offensive and defensive zone.
“Their puck pressure creates turnovers in all three zones, and when they get turnovers, it’s going right to the net, bodies and pucks are going right to the net. Off the rush, they’re more dynamic. In the offensive zone, they used to pound pucks with two on the inside and they actually do more of a spread look, depending on who they’re playing now. They’ve become a lot more diversified offensively, but they haven’t changed their identity. They’re coming after you.”
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Otto Stenberg-Brayden Schenn-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Pavel Buchnevich-Nick Bjugstad-Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk
Logan Mailloux-Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
The healthy scratch will be Robby Fabbri. Robert Thomas (lower body), Philip Broberg (concussion), Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain), Pius Suter (high ankle sprain) and Mathieu Joseph (elbow infection) are out.
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Hurricanes Projected Lineup:
Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Nikolaj Ehlers
Taylor Hall-Logan Stankoven-Jackson Blake
Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-Seth Jarvis
Eric Robinson-Mark Jankowski-Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jaccob Slavin-Jalen Chatfield
K’Andre Miller-Sean Walker
Shayne Gostisbehere-Alexander Nikishin
Brandon Bussi is projected to start in goal; Frederik Andersen would be the backup.
The healthy scratch is projected to be Mike Reilly. Pyotr Kochetkov (lower body), Noah Philp (concussion) and William Carrier (undisclosed) are all projected to be out.
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