Blues look for two straight, now begin life without Broberg on defense; Kessel knows this is his chance; Binnington can pass Allen for second in wins in franchise history
By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- With the status of Philip Broberg known for the St. Louis Blues (6-6-0), who face the Tampa Bay Lightning (7-5-0) in the second of a five-game homestand, each of the bottom three on defense will get an elevated role and more minutes.
That includes Matthew Kessel and Scott Perunovich on the bottom pair, with Pierre-Olivier Joseph going up and playing with Justin Faulk tonight when the puck drops at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
"That was a tough injury on 'Broby' and it sounds like it's very good news for what happened to him only missing just a couple weeks here, but it's definitely an opportunity for other guys to step up," Kessel said. "Guys like me, P.O. and Scotty to continue to show what we can do and step up and get some more minutes."
And for Kessel, that means, "just bring more physicality to my game. Be mean in the d-zone, corners, in front of the net and just continue to pound pucks, get pucks to the net. Those are the two biggest things.
"Just a little lacking I think, with the physicality. I think I've just been focusing on going for the puck a little bit when the main focus should be getting the body, getting a piece of the body and staying in a good position. I just need to get back to pounding pucks to the net and helping out offensively.
"We'll get more ice time with someone going down, but I don't necessarily think we think too much about it. We're all just ready to play every night and we're excited for the opportunity to play."
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* Jordan Binnington, who will start in goal, can pass Jake Allen into second place for second-most wins in franchise history. Each has 148 wins. Mike Liut has 151.
* Defenseman Ryan Suter will tie Glen Wesley for 27th all-time in games played when the 39-year-old suits up in his 1,457th game tonight.
* The Lightning will be without top-line center Brayden Point (undisclosed) after he was injured Sunday in a 7-4 loss at the Winnipeg Jets.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Brandon Saad-Pavel Buchnevich-Jake Neighbours
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Zack Bolduc
Alexandre Texier-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
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.
The Blues report no healthy scratches. Robert Thomas (ankle), Nick Leddy (lower body), Philip Broberg (knee), Mathieu Joseph (lower body), Kasperi Kapanen (upper body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.
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Lightning Projected Lineup:
Brandon Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel-Nick Paul-Mitchell Chaffee
Gage Goncalves-Conor Geekie-Cam Atkinson
Zemgus Girgensons-Luke Glendening-Michael Eyssimont
Victor Hedman-J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh-Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg-Nick Perbix
Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in goal; Jonas Johansson will be the backup.
The healthy scratch includes Darren Raddysh. Brayden Point (undisclosed) is out.
