Broberg considered a game time decision, but will play if he clears final concussion protocol step; Blues must navigate for next two weeks without Thomas; St. Louis next in line to try and halt Lightning's winning streak, currently at 11
ST. LOUIS – Philip Broberg will be a game time decision for the St. Louis Blues (18-21-8) when they host the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning (29-13-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
Broberg, who missed Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in concussion protocol stemming from a first-period injury in a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last Saturday, practiced in full for a second straight day and was quarterbacking a top power-play unit.
“There’s one last hurdle to go through,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “It’s just NHL concussion protocol. I’m not trying to be sneaky. If he can play, I’m playing him. Simple.”
If Broberg returns, it will be to replace Matthew Kessel, who was on the ice late with Robby Fabbri, who will also be a healthy scratch.
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Getting one player back is good news since the Blues now know they will have to navigate for the next two weeks or so without Robert Thomas, who has a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated in two weeks, the team announced on Thursday.
“I just think we need to play with the passion and spirit we played with last game,” Montgomery said. “That’s the way you overcome, not only did we overcome Robert Thomas, we overcame Broberg too. And we have [Dylan] Holloway and [Pius] Suter still out (each with a high ankle sprain). Everybody’s been dealing with injuries this year, so it’s no excuse. You just have to find the resolve from within and being able to win … if you don’t turn over pucks and you win 50-50 battles more than 50 percent, you give yourself a chance at puck possession, you give yourself a chance at turnovers to create the other way and create more offense.”
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Holloway participated in his first full skate with the team since his right high ankle sprain injury that has forced him to miss the past 14 games, and Montgomery said the progression and improvement is on the up and up.
“Quite a bit,” Montgomery said. “It was good to see him out on the ice with the team today. But that’s just the first practice. Now he’s got to get into a full time practice and see how his lower-body injury continues to heal from that exposure from getting back with the team.”
Suter, who has missed the past eight games, is working out off the ice but has not yet skated with the team; he is skating on his own at the moment.
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If you thought the win over the Hurricanes was impressive on Tuesday, it’s the Blues’ turn for the Blues to try and slay the dragon tonight.
The Lightning have tied a franchise record with 11 straight wins and will be going for the record against the Blues, who they defeated 4-1 on Dec. 22, the second win as part of this current streak.
“No. 1 is you have to win battles against this team,” Montgomery said. “Everybody knows and talks about the skill in the Stanley Cups. The fiber of Jon Cooper teams is they win battles. They compete hard, and then when you have that competitive spirit that they have combined with the skill, you end up winning a lot of hockey games. I don’t know the entire win streak, but a lot of them have been clear who the better team is by halfway through the game.
“They’re a fresher team. I think they’re more dynamic offensively, especially off the rush in the O-zone.”
As for Tuesday’s win, Montgomery said he was pleased with, “the competition. We won 55 percent of our battles last game. That was huge. The other thing we can implement is being on the right side of pucks like we were. Our reloads were really good, D’s gaps were really good and when you do that, you’re hard to play against. Everybody wants to play with the puck. When you’re checking well, the other team doesn’t have as much time to play with the puck. So it’s more sporadic.”
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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 include 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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Lightning projected lineup
Jake Guentzel-Nick Paul-Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons-Yanni Gourde-Pontus Holmberg
Oliver Bjorkstrand-Jack Finley-Dominic James
J.J. Moser-Darren Raddysh
Charle-Edouard D'Astous-Erik Cernak
Declan Carlile-Max Crozier
Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in goal; Brandon Halverson will be the backup.
The healthy scratch will include Simon Lundmark. Brayden Point (lower body), Ryan McDonagh (lower body), Victor Hedman (elbow), Emil Lilleberg (undisclosed), Scott Sabourin (undisclosed) and Jonas Johansson (undisclosed) are out.
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