I-55 rivals close out pre-4 Nations Face-Off schedule, first matchup since 2025 Discover Winter Classic; can Bolduc bottle up consistently good games; Suter to play in 1,500th game

ST. LOUIS -- Zack Bolduc had him self a strong game on Thursday for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 loss against the Florida Panthers.

The 2021 first-round pick scored and was part of a line with Oskar Sundqvist and Mathieu Joseph that played effectively strong. But in the past, and it's still early in Bolduc's career, he's had trouble following up good games on a continuous basis.

So how can the forward do that?

"I think it's preparation," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "Your mindset going into games, whether it's, 'I'm not going to be denied.' 'Boldy,' we talk to him about not falling below the puck, staying above it. That's all we talked about to simplifying and get more consistent and attacking inside the dots offensively."

When the Blues (24-26-5) host the Chicago Blackhawks (17-31-6) at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), Bolduc will look to do the things the Blues really liked from his game Thursday.

"It was his pressure on the puck without it, and it was his winning 1-on-1 battles, and it was him attacking the net," Montgomery said. "The goal, he's standing there in an area where goals are scored. If he goes behind the net when the puck goes in, he's not in a position to get that rebound and he's straining. His habits and details were really good and then because of that, he had other opportunities to score.

"The one on the power play, had the breakaway where it's a great play by him and 'MoJo.' They almost did the exact same thing at the end of the second and it was reversed. It was 'Boldy' trying to hit 'MoJo.' It just missed. I'm going to live with those kind of turnovers all the time; it's a breakaway. And usually when a guy's on a breakaway and you turn it over, there's four guys above it, and you always want to try and score. But if that play's not there, I would like Bolduc to go to the goal line. But 'MoJo's open for a breakaway."

Bolduc was in no mood to talk about himself postgame Thursday, but he was happy with how the line played.

"We were playing fast and Sunny’s winning draws, getting around the net and winning battles," Bolduc said. “'Matty Jo’s just skating, playing fast. It makes the game so much easier.”

- - -

Saturday will mark the 1,500th NHL game for Blues defenseman Ryan Suter, and he will become just the 22nd player in NHL history to reach the milestone and third American-born player to do so (Chris Chelios, 1,651; Matt Cullen, 1,516).

"That's a special number obviously," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "That's a lot of hockey and for good reason. He's a true pro. Just having him here this year, it's been fun to watch and just how he goes about his stuff. Like the way he treats his body and little things like that. It definitely kind of showcases as it translates to the ice. He's been playing for a long time and he's been a great player for a long time.

"There's a lot of work behind the scenes and a lot of little things. It's a lot of hockey too and also just to have a lot of little things go your way. He continues to get the job done.

"He's in the gym a lot, he's always here early, just being a professional. He seems to have the right diets, he does the right things and puts the right things in his body. A combination of all that stuff away from the rink too. Everything he does definitely translates."

- - -

The Blues are coming off losses against the Edmonton Oilers (3-2 in overtime) and Panthers, the two Stanley Cup finalists from a season ago, games in which they were right there and had opportunities to win.

On Thursday, some of the players lamented opportunities to take control of the game in the second period when the Blues really came on, but when it was on the line in the third, the Blues could only muster three shots on goal and little offensive zone time.

"That's where we have to grow as a team," Montgomery said. "I don't think Florida got all that many chances themselves, but they were more direct. They played north, they played to the goal line and they made sure they defended first. They were on the right side of pucks. It was hard for us to gain O-zone time and conversely we've got to learn from that. Their commitment to checking when the game's on the line and their commitment to playing north is something that we have to improve upon to be able to become one of the elite teams in the league.

"I think we want to make plays when they're not there. We talked about in the bench. We implored them to play to the goal line and I think we did it half of the time, but it's got to be all the time. It's got to be all four lines committed to playing that way because then you're predictable to each other and it allows you to play fast even if you're not fast. I don't think Florida's a fast team, but they play fast."

- - -

Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker

Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Nick Leddy

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

The Blues have no healthy scratches. Alexandre Texier (illness) is questionable, Tyler Tucker (upper body) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

- - -

Blackhawks Projected Lineup:

Landon Slaggert-Connor Bedard-Ryan Donato

Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Ilya Mikheyev

Philipp Kurashev-Nick Foligno-Tyler Bertuzzi

Patrick Maroon-Lukas Reichel-Craig Smith

Alec Martinez-Seth Jones

Alex Vlasic-Connor Murphy

Ethan Del Mastro-TJ Brodie

Arvid Soderblom is projected to start in goal; Petr Mrazek would be the backup.

The healthy scratch could be Nolan Allan. Laurent Brossoit (knee) and Jason Dickinson (ankle) are out.