Joseph returns after missing six games; Blues look to rebound from a second humbling defeat in past six games; team stressing better line changes as part of issues at hand
ST. LOUIS -- Drew Bannister confirmed what was already known on Monday: Mathieu Joseph will return for the St. Louis Blues (7-8-0) who close out a five-game homestand against the Boston Bruins (7-7-2) today (7 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
Joseph missed the past six games with a lower-body injury after hurting himself late in a 5-2 loss against the Montreal Canadiens Oct. 26.
"I'm sure you guys have been around Matty, he brings a lot of energy in the dressing room, on the ice and the way he plays, with his speed and his aggressiveness that we want to play as a team," Bannister said. "It'll be nice to have him back in the lineup tonight."
Joseph will skate on a line with Brayden Schenn and Dylan Holloway.
---
Speaking of lines that can use some infusion, Oskar Sundqvist will be the energy guy tonight to try and get two players the Blues can use some strong play from, particularly in the offensive zone: Brandon Saad and Alexandre Texier.
"'Sunny' is a guy that you rely on," Bannister said. "High IQ, can bring a lot of energy to the game with the way that he plays and his details in his game.
"I like the way our lineup looks here tonight with 'Sunny' and 'Saader' and getting 'Tex' back in the lineup, I think he's going to be excited and ready to go."
Texier was a healthy scratch on Saturday and has no points his last four games.
"We've had conversations with 'Tex,'" Bannister said. "Early on, he was a great player for us and then he got injured and I think it was him getting his timing back and sometimes I think it's just good to watch the game. But certainly I think he's going to be a big part of our team and a big part of the success of our team moving forward and he has a lot to give. Sometimes taking a step back and watching the game and getting right back in there. I'm sure he's going to be a big part of us moving forward and the success we have against Boston."
---
One area that lacked sorely, aside from the effort standpoint in a dreadful third period of Saturday's 8-1 loss against the Washington Capitals is the Blues have focused the past couple days solely on making better line changes.
Among the best games in that aspect in regards of putting teammates in a better spot on the ice were games against the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning.
"A lot of it is just not over-extending your shift and then when you don't do that, you don't put yourself in a bad spot or put your teammate in a bad spot on a line change," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "That's just playing a little bit of selfless hockey and taking care of what another out there. It's just those little details like that. That's actually a huge part of winning hockey games.
"I don't think they're big issues. I really don't. I think when we play the right way and we do the right things, we're a good hockey team. When we want to let our foot off the gas, not change at the right time or stuff like that, that's when little problems become bigger in the grand scheme of things and that's how you lose hockey games 8-1. I don't think we have big problems here at all. I think we're in a good spot. I don't think we've even came close to playing our best for a consistent period of time. We're still right in the hunt with a lot of teams. We've just got to keep on getting better day by day and get pieces back and we feel like we'll be put in a good spot. I have a lot of belief in our team and belief in our locker room. As we start scoring some goals here, confidence is going to rise. Obviously it's tough right now only scoring a couple a game or whatever it may be. We have to find ways to generate a little bit more and that'll build confidence throughout our lineup."
"Just focusing on some of the things that we identified in the game as far as our line changes and a little bit of our line-change forecheck and neutral zone forecheck that we have to tighten up," Bannister said. 'We want to see growth in our game. Obviously having a positive day here and feeling good about ourselves.
"If you look at the first three goals, they were either off line changes or forecheck that if we tighten that up, those three goals don't happen.
"Even Philly, I thought our shift length and our line changes and then into Toronto and then into even the Tampa game, we were changing well, we were keeping our shifts short, guys were changing in the offensive zone. A lot of the things that we talked about, about a team game and setting up your teammate to have success coming on the ice."
---
Among the lineup changes for tonight include Pavel Buchnevich moving back to center.
The Blues moved Buchnevich back to wing on Saturday but are going back to the commitment they've made of trying to use him more extensively in the middle.
"'Buchy' is a player that wants to excel, that wants to be a difference maker, whether he's on the wing or at center, but at the end of the day, he wants to do what's best for the team and as a group right now, we think l this is the best for the team," Bannister said. "He's been a really reliable center. I think sometimes the player gets frustrated because he doesn't see the points on the board, but I think it's important for him to focus on how he's playing away from the puck and what that means to us. Go back to the Toronto game and the Tampa game, hard matchups, but because we were deep down the center, we won those games.
"He's done a great job. Whether you're playing against [Auston] Matthews or [Anthony] Cirelli or guys like that, he's matched them and he's played extremely well defensively against them. He's made it tough on them. He's a really good two-way forward. When you put him in that position, I feel like he thrives on the defensive side and it's just his willingness and wanting us to push the offense too but the recognition of what he gives to us when he's down the middle and how he defends so well."
---
Blues Projected Lineup:
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Mahieu Joseph
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexandre Texier
Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko
Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Justin Faulk
Scott Perunovich-Matthew Kessel
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Zack Bolduc and Kasperi Kapanen. Robert Thomas (ankle), Nick Leddy (lower body), Philip Broberg (knee) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.
---
Bruins Projected Lineup:
Morgan Geekie-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand-Elias Lindholm-Justin Brazeau
Trent Frederic-Charlie Coyle-Tyler Johnson
John Beecher-Mark Kastelic-Cole Koepke
Nikita Zadorov-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei-Parker Wotherspoon
Jeremy Swayman will start in goal; Joonas Korpisalo will be the backup.
The Bruins have no healthy scratches . Andrew Peeke (upper body) is out.
