Central Division rivals rematch from Friday's 3-2 Stars win, won in final minute of regulation; teams will meet three times over span of 13 days; Blues captain on staying positive;
ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues (19-24-9) and Dallas Stars (29-14-9) will meet for the second time in what will be three matchups in a 13-day span on Tuesday in the second game of a four-game homestand at Enterprise Center (7 p.m.; ESPN+, HULU, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The Blues, who played arguably one of their best games this season when they topped the Stars 3-1 in October here, fell 3-2 at Dallas on Friday on a goal by Jason Robertson in the final minute of regulation.
“Just how smart and how they understand to win hockey games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of the Stars. ‘That was a very even game, but at the end, their players went out and they were hunting to win the game and it’s a mindset that we want to develop.”
The Blues, who have lost four straight (0-3-1), have been right there in the last three games but are a season-high five games under .500 yet somehow continue to tumble in the Western Conference standings.
The mood remains upbeat despite the dire situation, and it’s something that captain Brayden Schenn said is a must.
“You can’t walk around … 82 games of being miserable and unhappy,” Schenn said. “You have to find ways to keep yourself upbeat and ultimately when you’re upbeat and you have a good attitude, guys play better and that’s just the reality of it. You want to win hockey games, we all know that, but you can’t show up to the rink every day and be miserable because at the end of the day, you’ve got to be lucky and grateful for the job that we get to do and it doesn’t last forever and you have to enjoy the people around you and come to the rink with a good attitude, be ready to work and ultimately strive to get wins.
“We look one at a time. We’ve had spurts where we’ve played better. We kind of gave Dallas that last game. We’re in games now; obviously that Edmonton one, but we’re playing better, we’re playing harder together, but at the end of the day, we have to find better ways to win in this league and learn how to win and we just haven’t been able to do that.”
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Pavel Buchnevich, who’s been at the center position the past three games, has seen an uptick in his game, and it’s not a coincidence that linemates Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours have played effectively as well.
“I think ‘Buchy’s been incredible at center,” Montgomery said. “I think his draws have been fantastic. He’s been able to use his vision a lot more to create time and space. Good entries and good forechecks and I think ‘Rouzy’s been really skating. This has been the longest stretch of ‘Rouzy’ here, I think it’s seven or eight games here, I would say he’s had one average game and the other ones are him skating, putting people on their heels, stripping people from behind. That goal where he fakes and he does the wraparound, that’s the ‘Rouzy’ that St. Louis Blues fans and us coaches and teammates love to see.”
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Jonatan Berggren, who played a Blues-high 18:59 on Saturday, continues to get looks in the Blues’ top six despite a point drought of eight games. But don’t let those numbers fool you.
The Blues keep Berggren there because he continues to make high-end plays that are not being rewarded, hence why the Blues are last in the league in goal scoring at 2.42 per game.
“(Berggren’s game is) in a place where I think he’s getting comfortable within our structure,” Montgomery said. ‘I think that he has games where he’s very evident of how he’s making plays and winning 1-on-1 battles. When he’s winning 1-on-1 battles, that’s when he’s at his best because he has time and space. He is one of our best play makers. He’s one of our best players at seeing the ice and making plays through people and over people, and that’s something that we want to give him the opportunity here like he has been consistently here lately in a top six role to see how much be can produce.”
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With Otto Stenberg being sent down to Springfield on Monday, Montgomery’s message was simple.
“He’s had a real good stint with us,” the coach said. “Consistently reliable, someone that is very smart offensively and defensively, and then offensively, he needs to expand his game. Right now, he gets a lot of opportunities. I think working on his shot and mindset of being more aggressive getting to the blue paint offensively is something that’s going to let him when he comes back to be an even better Blue for us. But he’s had a really, really good tenure with us in his first go-around in the NHL.”
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Jonatan Berggren-Brayden Schenn-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou
Robby Fabbri-Dalibor Dvorsky-Mathieu Joseph
Alexey Toropchenko-Nick Bjugstad-Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko
Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk
Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
The healthy scratch includes Matthew Kessel. Pius Suter (high ankle sprain), Robert Thomas (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist (skate laceration) and Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain) are out.
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Stars Projected Lineup:
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Mavrik Bourque
Justin Hryckowian-Wyatt Johnston-Mikko Rantanen
Sam Steel-Matt Duchene-Jamie Benn
Oskar Back-Radek Faksa-Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley-Nils Lundkvist
Kyle Capobianco-Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger will start in goal; Casey DeSmith will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nathan Bastian and Adam Erne. Tyler Seguin (ACL), Lian Bichsel (lower body), and Ilya Lyubushkin (lower body) are out.
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