Neighbours tough on himself for lack of secondary production, Montgomery comes to defense of young forward; Suter to get chance to rest, Drouin also out for Walker, Stenberg; Binnington to get start
ST. LOUIS – Two Central Division rivals on life support as the regular season winds down square off to keep their fainting playoff hopes alive on Thursday when the St. Louis Blues (33-32-12) host the Winnipeg Jets (34-31-12) at 7 p.m.
The Blues are six points behind the Nashville Predators for the second and final wild card out of the Western Conference, while the Jets are four points back with each team holding a game in hand.
If one wins in regulation on Thursday, it all but knocks the other out of contention for the season.
It’s truly remarkable too because it seems both sides have found their stride since the Olympic break but had bad stretches earlier in the season that put them in this precarious position of being potentially out of the playoffs and in the murky middle as far as draft status is concerned.
It makes that first-round playoff series from a year ago seem like a long lost memory.
“There is a lot of similarities, a lot of similarities probably to the whole season too,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I’m sure their expectations were even higher than ours were. I’m sure they were a lock to make the playoffs in a lot of people’s estimations, the experts in your guys’ world picking people to make the playoffs. I think they were in the top three in our division (after winning the Presidents’ Trophy last season). They’ve probably had to deal with a lot of frustration and disappointment in having to overcome adversity that they weren’t expecting early like we did. It’s taken a lot to straighten out the cores, but they’ve straightened it out and they’ve played good hockey.”
One really glaring and obvious similarity is that these teams each have a dynamic first line, with the Blues getting massive production from Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud. Winnipeg has relied heavily on Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo, or when Gabriel Vilardi was playing on that left wing.
“They’re really dynamic, especially in the offensive zone,” Montgomery said of the Jets’ top line. “They are one of the best lines in the offensive zone 5-on-5. They use the 85 feet and they use I don’t know what the feet it now, if it’s 90 feet from the blue line to the end wall … but that being said, they use the back of the net really well and if you leave their defensemen alone, they’re really good at tipping and timing their breaks to the net, so you really have to be aware of where they are and your sticks are really important. You’ve got to take away time and space like you do against anyone, but if your sticks aren’t on the ice against these guys, they’re going to put it through you and it’s going to be a one-timer.”
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The Blues will make three lineup changes for Thursday.
Jordan Binnington gets the start in goal, while Otto Stenberg and Nathan Walker return, and Jonathan Drouin and Pius Suter come out.
Suter is a healthy scratch for the first time this season; he’s played in 60 games and has 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) but it’s more of a rest for him than poor play.
“He’s been really good for us all year,” Montgomery said. “He’s played a lot of hockey games and just an opportunity for him to rest up. He’ll play in Chicago (Saturday). He’s be back in the lineup against Chicago.”
As for Stenberg, who was a healthy scratch in the past two games against the Colorado Avalanche, Montgomery said, “It was an opportunity too with Colorado, just to get two lines that I thought could check, and that’s why 89 [Pavel Buchnevich] was down on that line with [Jack] Finley and [Alexey] Toropchenko. On the road especially, you don’t get the opportunity and then at home, I wanted to stay with the same lineup that beat Colorado and that gives me that opportunity, and I did use Finley’s line against [Nathan] MacKinnon’s line to free up Thomas’ line against one of their other lines maybe to create more offense, and when they did score, they were out there against one of the other lines.”
Buchnevich will move back into the middle after playing the past two games on the fourth line; he missed last Friday’s 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks for maintenance purposes.
“It’s a hard question to answer because he’s not producing offensively,” Montgomery said of Buchnevich’s production. “He’s had a lot of odd-man rushes that either he or whoever’s with him hasn’t been able to make finishing plays on. Defensively, there’s been games where he’s been dynamite. His ability to read the ice, his hockey sense offensively and defensively is what makes him a really good player and when he plays to those strengths, that’s when he helps us the most.”
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The secondary production has been an issue for the Blues, and nobody took it harder – particularly on himself – more so than Jake Neighbours, who was quite critical of himself after a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
“I wish I had an answer for you,” Neighbours said. “I think I’m responsible for a lot of that. I haven’t played up to my standard at all or what this team needs from me. I wear that on my shoulders. Credit to those three (on the top line), they’ve been unbelievable since the break, probably the best line in the league. The rest of us have to do a better job of contributing.”
Prior to the past two games, Neighbours had a run of six assists in four games but hasn’t scored since Feb. 2 (21 straight games).
“I don’t think it’s enough from me,” Neighbours said. “I’ll speak only on myself; I don’t want to comment on anybody else, but just disappointed in myself and how I’ve been since the break. I don’t think it’s been good enough. Goals are one thing but generating and creating momentum and offense is another. I just don’t think I’ve done that well enough.”
Montgomery came to the defense of his young forward.
“People in general on our side of the fence, try to tell people not to beat themselves up in the media, not to take to much blame,” Montgomery said. “But I love it when someone takes ownership, and I’m not saying he should take ownership, but he cares so much about the team that he’s not playing to the standard that he expects, so he has no problem taking that upon himself, and that’s why he’s such a great teammate and a great player and someone you want in the locker room all the time. Jake Neighbours is someone that you go in there and you talk to any teammate and they’re going to get a smile on their face right away because Jake Neighbours is inviting them to play pickleball, he’s inviting them to go to dinner on the road. He’s doing all those little things when we’re going out to start the game, he has a handshake with everybody, he has a nickname for everybody. He’s just an energy guy that breeds positivity, and for him to take account like that, I don’t want him to make a habit of it, but it does show the integrity he has about being a Blue.”
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Dylan Holloway-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jonatan Berggren
Otto Stenberg-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko-Jack Finley-Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg-Logan Mailloux
Theo Lindstein-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Justin Holl, Jonathan Drouin, Matthew Kessel, Oskar Sundqvist and Pius Suter. The Blues report no injuries.
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Jets Projected Lineup:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Alex Iafallo
Cole Perfetti-Adam Lowry-Gabriel Vilardi
Cole Koepke-Jonathan Toews-Isak Rosen
Nino Niederreiter-Vladislav Namestnikov-Brad Lambert
Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg-Neal Pionk
Haydn Fleury-Jacob Bryson
Connor Hellebuyck will start in goal; Eric Comrie will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Ville Heinola and Colin Miller. Morgan Barron (lower body), Elias Salomonsson (concussion) and Gustav Nyquist (undisclosed) are out.
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