Texier, Faksa questionable after each skated on Saturday; Montgomery called Saad's game against Nashville best since coach has been back; Blues have one more game to focus on before shifting to Winter Classic
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues (17-16-4) had a full practice on Saturday in preparation for their home afternoon matchup on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres (13-19-4) at 2 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
Forwards Alexandre Texier and Radek Faksa each participated in full and are questionable for the game.
Texier, who has played well in the games leading up to Friday when he missed due to illness, could slot back in on a top line if he's available.
"He looked a little fatigued, but he made some real high-end plays, so the skill level, he didn't lose that during his illness," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "He's definitely an option. We'll just see how he responds."
As for Faksa, who has missed seven of the past eight games due to that lower-body skate cut he took near the groin area, was also a full participant.
"He looks better in practice," Montgomery said. "They're making the steps, especially Faksa, but we've got to see how he responds. That was a pretty hard 45-minute skate, so we've got to see how he responds to it."
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Brandon Saad played in Friday's 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators for the first time in three games; the veteran had been a healthy scratch the previous two games.
Saad played with Texier out and Montgomery called it his best game since the coach arrived Nov. 24. He didn't score but played 14:04 and was a plus-1.
"His determination on pucks, how many 1-on-1 battles he won and then just his habits and details were really good," Montgomery said. "He dug in for me, kind of like (No.) 26 [Nathan Walker] and (No.) 13 [Alexey Toropchenko] do all the time. I felt he was adding another layer of being hard to play against."
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The Blues are just a few days away from competing in the Discover Winter Classic at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Blackhawks, but there hasn't been much talk of it with the Blues focused on the task at hand, the game in hand.
They have one more before turning their attention to the NHL's signature outdoor game.
"I've thought about that and saying that before the meeting (Saturday)," Montgomery said, "but when I walked into our meeting, I usually ask a couple questions and you could tell their focus was on today. So I didn't even bother. We've got a real good team in Buffalo that's coming in and that's scored a lot of goals in their last two games (13). We've got to get that task at hand and then we'll get ready on the plane ride. We'll start getting excited about the Winter Classic."
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* Jordan Kyrou's goal and assist on Friday extended his home point streak to 13 games (eight goals, six assists).
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jake Neighbours
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko-Mathieu Joseph-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington is projected to start in goal; Joel Hofer would be the backup.
The healthy scratch is expected to be Scott Perunovich. Nick Leddy (lower body) is out. Radek Faksa (lower body) and Alexandre Texier (illness) are questionable.
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Sabres Projected Lineup:
Jason Zucker-Tage Thompson-Alex Tuch
Jack Quinn-Dylan Cozens-JJ Peterka
Zach Benson-Jiri Kulich-Peyton Krebs
Beck Malenstyn-Ryan McLeod-Sam Lafferty
Rasmus Dahlin-Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson-Owen Power
Jacob Bryson-Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is projected to start in goal; James Reimer would be the backup.
Healthy scratches are projected to be Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Henri Jokiharju and Dennis Gilbert. Jordan Greenway (middle body) is out.
