The St. Louis Blues will welcome Nick Bjugstad back to their lineup, but they’ll be without Robert Thomas as they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
The St. Louis Blues will host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in an East vs West matchup, but they’ll do so without their top-line center, Robert Thomas.
The 26-year-old is dealing with a lower-body injury that coach Jim Montgomery said they are maintaining. He missed practice yesterday alongside Philip Broberg and Mathieu Joseph, both of whom will also be out for tonight’s contest.
Thomas is the Blues’ leading scorer with 11 goals and 33 points in 42 games. His 33 points are nine more than the next closest player on the Blues, Pavel Buchnevich.
Speaking of Buchnevich, he’ll be playing alongside a different center tonight with Thomas out of the lineup. He’ll be skating with Nick Bjugstad, who rejoins the Blues’ lineup for the first time since Dec. 9. He had been dealing with an upper-body injury (concussion protocol) for a little over a month.
Bjugstad, alongside Pius Suter, was one of the two big off-season signings made by the Blues. The goal of the signings was to beef up the center-ice position and add defensive prowess in the bottom six. Suter had been playing well prior to his injury, but Bjugstad has struggled to get his feet underneath him.
The 33-year-old has notched just four goals and five points in 25 games, but he’s struggled to affect the game on the defensive side positively. The Blues are hoping his time away has allowed him to reset and come back more confident.
Nick Bjugstad (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)“I think we miss his heaviness, another right-shot center to take face-offs, another guy who can penalty kill,” Montgomery said of Bjugstad. “But 5-on-5, it’s that heaviness that he can bring to our offensive end, especially and back defending our own end from a centerman.”
Joining Bjugstad and Buchenich on what appears to be the third line is Jonatan Berggren. After a hot start with the Blues, he’s cooled off, but he’s still notched three goals and five points in his first 11 games as a Blue.
Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m. CST at the Enterprise Center.
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