Neighbours, Kyrou join list of wounded forwards, will not play on Thursday against Panthers; Luff, McGing recalled under emergency conditions
ST. LOUIS – Jake Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Oskar Sundqvist will game time decisions on Thursday when the St. Louis Blues (19-25-9) entertain the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (28-21-3) at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Neighbours and Kyrou were injured in a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, Neighbours with a lower-body injury blocking a shot and Kyrou with an upper-body injury following a collision.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery said on Wednesday the injuries are more day to day than week to week.
Sundqvist has not played since Jan. 18 after taking a deep laceration above the ankle against the Edmonton Oilers.
The team recalled forwards Matt Luff and Hugh McGing from Springfield of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions for insurance purposes but each of the forwards skated during an optional morning skate.
Also, the team placed Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain) on injured reserve; he joins Robert Thomas (lower body) and Pius Suter (high ankle sprain) and Sundqvist on IR; Sundqvist will come off today if he's in the lineup.
“I still don’t know,” Montgomery said referring to the lineup. “It’s an optional skate. (Neighbours and Kyrou) are going to see how they feel. (Sundqvist) is going to see how he feels, so unfortunately, I don’t have any answers for you. If you guys want to come see me again at 5:45, you’re more than welcome to come see me at 5:45.”
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The Blues and Panthers will meet for the second time this season, and the Blues’ 6-2 win in Florida was their last road victory on Dec. 20.
“I thought our puck pressure was really good and I thought we managed the puck coming out of our D-zone, whether it’s breakouts or coming out of when we killed plays in the D-zone,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t let them sustain offensive zone time, which is the strength of their team. They sustain offensive zone through the puck pressure of their defensemen and their forwards reloading better than anyone in the league in my opinion. Their defensemen’s sticks are high end and I thought that our wingers did a great job winning wall battles and using the wall and using people underneath to be able to get in foot races against them. It’s always a challenge against them. If you’re successful there, you’re going to get odd-man rushes. If you’re not, you’re going to spend a lot of time in your end.”
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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
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
The healthy scratches could include Matthew Kessel, Hugh McGing and Matt Luff. Pius Suter (high ankle sprain), Robert Thomas (lower body) and Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain) are out. Oskar Sundqvist (skate laceration) is a game time decision.
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Panthers Projected Lineup:
Carter Verhaeghe-Evan Rodrigues-Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Cole Schwindt-Brad Marchand
Sandis Vilmanis-Luke Kunin-A.J. Greer
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Uvis Balinskis
Tobias Bjornfot-Jeff Petry
Daniil Tarasov will start in goal; Sergei Bobrovsky will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Donovan Sebrango and Jesper Boqvist. Seth Jones (upper body), Aleksander Barkov (knee), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder) and Anton Lundell (upper body) are out.
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