Blues close trip trying to stay in wild card hunt against league's best team that has something to play for itself with chance to wrap up top seed in West; St. Louis currently 1-1-1 on trip with seven games remaining
The end of a long road trip and the start of a back-to-back against the top team in the NHL will see what the St. Louis Blues (32-31-12) are really made of.
And with a matchup against the Colorado Avalanche (50-15-10), who can wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference with a win on Sunday at 8:45 p.m. (ESPN), the Blues are still trying to hang on for dear life with their fading hopes of trying to get into the final wild card in the Western Conference, one in which they trail by five points when the puck drops.
The Blues are coming off a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and will look to build off a solid victory making three changes to the lineup, all coming on the fourth line.
In are Pavel Buchnevich, Alexey Toropchenko and Jack Finley, who missed Friday's game, and out will be Oskar Sundqvist, Otto Stenberg and Nathan Walker. Justin Holl will be scratched for a second straight game.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery did not reveal a starting goalie so we will see in warmups whether it will be Jordan Binnington or Joel Hofer, but we'll project Hofer as the starter unless indicated otherwise.
Colorado, coming off a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, did not hold a morning skate and will be without top defenseman Cale Makar on Sunday and likely on Tuesday in the rematch in St. Louis.
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With a point Sunday, Blues defenseman Philip Broberg can tie Kevin Shattenkirk (2013-14 and 2015-16) for longest point streak by a defenseman (eight) since 1994-95.
Broberg has eight points in a seven-game point streak (two goals, six assists).
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Dylan Holloway-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jonathan Drouin-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours-Pius Suter-Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropcheko-Jack Finley-Pavel Buchnevich
Philip Broberg-Logan Mailloux
Theo Lindstein-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Tyler Tucker
Joel Hofer is projected to start in goal; Jordan Binnington would be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Otto Stenberg, Oskar Sundqvist, Nathan Walker, Justin Holl and Matthew Kessel. The Blues have no injuries.
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Avalanche Projected Lineup:
Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog-Brock Nelson-Valeri Nichushkin
Parker Kelly-Nazem Kadri-Joel Kiviranta
Ross Colton-Jack Drury-Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews-Sam Malinski
Brett Kulak-Josh Manson
Nick Blankenburg-Brent Burns
Mackenzie Blackwood is projected to start in goal; Scott Wedgewood would be the backup.
The healthy scratch includes Zakhar Bardakov. Cale Makar (upper body) and Nicolas Roy (upper body) are out.
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