Blues to play near-full lineup in preseason finale to prepare for regular-season opener Oct. 2 in Dallas; Hofer to get full game; Dean to play in all four exhibitions
The end of the preseason concludes on Saturday for the St. Louis Blues (1-2-0), who will close things out with another game against the Chicago Blackhawks (1-1-1) at United Center at 6 p.m. (stlouisblues.com, Blues app, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The Blues and Hawks will play for the second time in three days after the Blues took a 1-0 win on Thursday at Enterprise Center, thanks to a third-period Calle Rosen goal, just one of 36 shots the Blues were able to get past Arvid Soderblom, who was really good for Chicago.
It was a game in which the Blues could have conceivably scored anywhere from 3-6 goals had it not been for the Chicago goalie, and even in preseason, it’s more of what Blues coach Jim Montgomery was looking for after a couple of less-than-stellar identical 2-1 losses to the Dallas Stars.
“Yes, and the physicality and winning battles was excellent,” Montgomery said of Thursday’s game. “We were really connected and we were really hard. Everybody was pulling on the rope.”
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The Blues will play most of their opening night lineup in this one and left for Chicago on Friday to get acclimated with travel with the regular season slated for Oct. 2 against the Stars, and with the new CBA in place that limits those that have 100 or more games of NHL experience, there are a couple of players that cannot play in tonight’s game because they have already played in two preseason games, and they include Ross Johnston, Dillon Dube and Jordan Binnington.
So Zach Dean, who barring anything unforeseen by Monday’s 23-man NHL-mandated roster deadline of 4 p.m. (CT) will be on the opening night roster, will play on the fourth line in place of Johnston.
“Just continue to improve his game all around,” Montgomery said of Dean. “He’s shown really well. We’re excited about him. Show the speed, show the tenacity, get pucks to the net. Has had great chances, just hasn’t buried on them.”
Dean and Dube have won out the 13th and 14th forward slots with Oskar Sundqvist, Nathan Walker and Jack Finley all placed on waivers Friday and will know their fates by 1 p.m. (CT) Saturday whether any of them are claimed by someone or not, and if not, each will be assigned to Springfield of the American Hockey League.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Dylan Holloway-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Pavel Buchnevich-Mason McTavish-Connor McMichael
Jake Neighbours-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropchenko-Pius Suter-Zach Dean
Philip Broberg-Logan Mailloux
Theo Lindstein-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Brandon Carlo
Joel Hofer will start in goal and play the full game; Georgii Romanov will be the backup.
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Blackhawks Projected Lineup:
Tyler Bertuzzi-Anton Frondell-Andrew Mangiapane
Ryan Donato-Oliver Moore-Ryan Greene
Teuvo Teravainen-Roman Kantserov-Nick Lardis
Dillon Boucher-Dominic Toninato-Cole Smith
Alex Vlasic-Bowen Byram
Ethan Del Mastro-Artyom Levshunov
Ian Cole-Sam Rinzel
Spencer Knight will start in goal; Drew Commesso is projected to be the backup.
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