(4-14-24) Kraken-Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS -- Now that they know their plight, the St. Louis Blues owe this one to the fans.

Those very same fans that have stuck with them through thick and thin in what's turning out to be a second straight miss on the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

When the Blues (42-33-5) host the Seattle Kraken (33-33-13) at noon Sunday (TNT, MAX, ESPN 101.1-FM), it will be the final home game of the 2023-24 regular season and penultimate game of the season.

The Blues were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Friday when they fell 5-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes at home, coupled with the Vegas Golden Knights drubbing the Minnesota Wild, 7-2, it closed the door on the Blues' faint playoff hopes.

Now they own it to their fans to go out and perform in front of them one last time.

"St. Louis fans are always great," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "They always come and cheer and support us. They always fill the rink for us. It's important for us. You take pride in your job, you take pride in the work of reality of winning the game or losing. You go out there and put your best effort in on the last home game. Sunday afternoon game at home, just go out there and enjoy it, have some fun and score goals and play hard.

"Still a job to do. You still take pride in playing the game the right way and putting a good performance in here on home ice."

It took 80 games for the Blues to play a game that doesn't have much bearing other than draft pick standing. They close the season Wednesday against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, the same venue they closed out last season.

Only this time, the emotions are still raw. Last year, they were eliminated much earlier than this.

Doesn't mean they go out Sunday against Seattle, also eliminated from the playoffs, and lay an egg.

"St. Louis loyal are some of the best," Blues goalie Jordan Binnington said. "Very appreciative of that. I've gotten to know them pretty well over the years. They're great running into them, the store, the streets, whatever. We're hoping to put on a good show for them to close out the year. Hopefully we can build on something for next year."

For Blues interim coach Drew Bannister, who is 29-19-4 since taking over for Craig Berube, he gets the chance, along with the rest of the coaches to decompress, although they'd rather be coaching in another pressure-type game still in the chase.

"I don't think we're evaluating anything," Bannister said after practice Saturday. "I think we've had 80 games to evaluate our team. What we're looking for is our group comes and they take pride in their hockey game and we want to make sure and people deserve a good performance here tomorrow. We have to make sure we have maximum effort when we come here and play tomorrow afternoon."

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Forward Kevin Hayes will come back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past two games and three of the past four; he will replace Nikita Alexandrov.

Also, defenseman Torey Krug (upper-body injury) will not play Sunday, missing his second game in a row, but Bannister did not rule him out of Wednesday's finale in Dallas.

As for forward Jake Neighbours (upper-body injury), he'll also miss Sunday, his fourth in a row, and has been essentially been shut down for the rest of the season, and defenseman Justin Faulk (upper-body injury) will not play again this season.

"Neighbours, probably best to say that he's out for the rest of the year, and 'Kruger', I would imagine that he's out for tomorrow, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you that he'd be out for Wednesday," Bannister said. "There's still a possibility for him to play."

Joel Hofer will start against the Kraken, and Binnington will get the finale against the Stars.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Zack Bolduc

Brandon Saad-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou

Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Kasperi Kapanen

Nathan Walker-Zach Dean-Sammy Blais

Scott Perunovich-Colton Parayko

Nick Leddy-Matthew Kessel

Marco Scandella-Tyler Tucker

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

The healthy scratch will be Nikita Alexandrov. Torey Krug (upper body) is out and remains day to day; Justin Faulk (upper body), Jake Neighbours (upper body) and Oskar Sundqvist (torn right ACL) are done for the season.

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The Kraken's projected lineup:

Andre Burakovsky-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle

Jaden Schwartz-Jared McCann-Oliver Bjorkstrand

Eeli Tolvanen-Yanni Gourde-Brandon Tanev

Tomas Tatar-Kailer Yamamoto-Tye Kartye

Ryker Evans-Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak-Will Borgen

Brian Dumoulin-Justin Schultz

Joey Daccord is projected to start in goal; Philipp Grubauer would be the backup.

Healthy scratches could include Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Cale Fleury. Vince Dunn (upper body) is out for the rest of the season.