Montgomery makes Blues coaching debut; Bolduc in for Joseph; Neighbours, Kyrou third period switch Saturday to stick tonight
The St. Louis Blues begin the Jim Montgomery era on Monday when they play the second of a pre-Thanksgiving road trip against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden (6 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The 55-year-old Montgomery was hired on Sunday after the Blues (9-12-1) fired Drew Bannister, who was 30-19-5 as the interim coach last season.
The Blues, who have scored two or fewer goals in 13 of 22 games and one or fewer in seven of 22, will make one skater switch with Zack Bolduc going in for Mathieu Joseph; Oskar Sundqvist and Radek Faksa will flip spots at center, reuniting the 'WTF' Line, and Jake Neighbours will stay on the top line, and Jordan Kyrou playing with Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad. That switch was made for the third period Saturday in a 3-1 loss against the New York Islanders.
Joel Hofer will get the start in goal, with Jordan Binnington likely getting the net Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jake Neighbours
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Dylan Holloway-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker
Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko
Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk
Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healhy scratches include Mathieu Joseph, Alexandre Texier and Corey Schueneman. Nick Leddy (lower body) and Philip Broberg (knee) are out.
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Rangers Projected Lineup:
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trochek-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Mika Zibanejad-Brett Berard
Adam Edstrom-Kaapo Kakko-Reilly Smith
Jimmy Vesey-Sam Carrick-Matt Rempe
K’Andre Miller-Adam Fox
Ryan Lindgren-Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones-Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin will start in goal; Jonathan Quick will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Jonny Brodzinski and Victor Mancini. Chris Kreider (upper body) and Filip Chytil (upper body) are out.
