(12-12-24) San Jose Sharks-St. Louis Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS -- Radek Faksa should consider himself fortunate.

Fortunate that the St. Louis Blues center will only likely miss one game.

Faksa will not play when the Blues (14-13-2) host the San Jose Sharks (10-16-5) at 7 p.m. today (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) due to a lower-body injury sustained Tuesday in a 4-3 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks.

Faksa, who has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 29 games, was cut by a skate blade late in the third period and was fortunate is wasn't in a different spot.

"Faksa's doing well. Not a player tonight but most likely a player in Dallas," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "The cut was ... I'm not a doctor ... real close to his privates. But on the like.

"Yeah, it could have been much worse. Very fortunate, because he's been great for us. He's just a workhorse. We'll miss him tonight, but it's an opportunity for Mathieu Joseph to get in."

So it will be Joseph that slides in after being a healthy scratch the past three games, moving Nathan Walker into the middle of the 'WTF Line.'

Montgomery said Joseph can provide, "Speed, energy."

That will be important tonight after the Blues returned from a four-game Canadian road trip in which they were 3-1-0 and came home Wednesday.

"Coming back from Vancouver, it's a tough game," Montgomery said. "Our bodies are somewhere in the Rocky Mountains right now. We need to start this game on time and we need to get better throughout the game."

The Blues flipped morning skate slots with the Sharks in order to try and balance out the body clocks they've been used to.

"Ryan Podes (Ryan Podell, the director of performance), I utilize him a lot because the sports science has really made us more intelligent about helping our players be ready at the start of game time," Montgomery said. "He came to me like a week ago, I think last time we were here and he's like, 'We should think about this.' I'm like, 'Well let's go it.' We're very thankful that San Jose switched times because if they didn't, we were going to go to Centene just so that we get more sleep and preparation to give our players most success tonight."

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Not only is Dylan Holloway going strong for the Blues, as is Pavel Buchnevich, but over the past four games, Robert Thomas has put together himself a four-game point streak with nine points (three goals, six assists).

"It's been going well," Thomas said. "Seem to be going in right now. Times like that come and go. I'm just trying to be consistent and creating opportunities. Sometimes they go in more than others."

Montgomery worked with Thomas here from 2020-22 and notices a much more mature player.

"A hundred percent. I've met a couple times with him," Montgomery said. "The way he analyzes things now is about the team and how he can help the team, whereas the last time I was here, it was about him establishing himself in the league. I think he knows what he is and I think he knows how important he is to the team's success and that's his mindset is driving the team."

It helps the Blues, 5-1-1 under Montgomery, are averaging 3.43 goals per game in the past seven games, up from 30th in the NHL prior at 2.36.

"I think confidence, holding onto pucks," Thomas said. "I think possession has been a big key. When you work hard to get it back for free. That's got a lot of guys feeling good. Our scoring depth has been a strength of ours lately. That's got to continue for us to me the team that we want to be."

Thomas said it took a little getting used to being back in the flow after missing 12 games with a fractured right foot.

"It takes a little, especially an injury that keeps you off the ice right up until you're ready to go, so it took me a couple games to get the flow back," he said. "I'm feeling good now."

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Dylan Holloway-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc

Alexey Toropchenko-Nathan Walker-Mathieu Joseph

Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Matthew Kessel

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Scott Perunovich and Alexandre Texier. Nick Leddy (lower body) and Radek Faksa (lower body) are out.

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Sharks Projected Lineup:

Nikolai Kovalenko-Macklin Celebrini-Tyler Toffoli

Klim Kostin-Mikael Granlund-Fabian Zetterlund

Barclay Goodrow-Alexander Wennberg-Luke Kunin

William Eklund-Nico Sturm-Ty Dellandrea

Jake Walman-Cody Ceci

Mario Ferraro-Timothy Liljegren

Shakir Mukhamadullin-Jan Rutta

Alexandar Georgiev will start in goal; Vitek Vanecek will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Carl Grundstrom and Henry Thrun. Logan Couture (groin), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (upper body) and Will Smith (upper body) are out.