(12-20-25) Blues-Panthers Gameday Lineup

Jim Montgomery indicated after a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers that the Jonatan Breggren will probably get a look the next game on the top line.

Well, he will hold true to form as Berggren will start the game with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich when the St. Louis Blues (13-15-8) open a two-game swing to close out the pre-Christmas schedule against the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers (19-13-2) at 5 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Berggren, claimed off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, scored the Blues’ lone goal Thursday, a beautiful sharp-angle shot in the first period, was elevated to that line in the third period, a period that was obviously the Blues’ best of the game and helped fuel some dangerous offensive chances, including Thomas, who had a career-high six shots on goal.

“It looked really good in the third, and we’ll probably give it a look next game,” Montgomery said after the game. “There’s a big difference when you start a game with people. There just is. Sometimes in games, you catch fire. To be able to sustain it, we’re going to see if we can sustain it, but it did look good.”

There’s no doubt Berggren has played with some fire in his stomach after getting cut by one team and wanting to show something to the one that claimed him, but with the Blues at the bottom of the NHL in goals scored per game (2.44), if someone can show a pulse of helping fuel some offense, might as well give it a look.

“I just play my game,” Berggren said. “I haven’t played a lot of hockey this season. It’s fun to be out there and be with the boys and play good hockey.

“I just tried to play my game and hopefully keep doing that and play good. It’s super-fun to play with those guys, two skillful players. Just keep going.”

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With the Blues assigning Matt Luff to Springfield on Friday, Robby Fabbri will get back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Thursday, and Alexey Toropchenko, who started Thursday with Thomas and Buchnevich, returns to his familiar role on the fourth line.

And Joel Hofer is in line to get his fourth start the past five games.

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Jonatan Berggren-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Otto Stenberg

Pius Suter-Dalibor Dvorsky-Robby Fabbri

Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph

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 scratch includes Matthew Kessel. Jordan Kyrou (lower body), Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain), Nathan Walker (upper body) and Nick Bjugstad (upper body) are all out.

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Panthers projected lineup:

Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Brad Marchand

Jesper Boqvist-Evan Rodrigues- A.J. Greer

Luke Kunin-Jack Studnicka-Noah Gregor

Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones

Uvis Balinskis-Jeff Petry

Daniil Tarasov is projected to start in goal; Sergei Bobrovsky would be the backup.

The healthy scratch includes Donovan Sebrango. Aleksander Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), Mackie Samoskevich (lower body), and Cole Schwindt (arm) are out.

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