One final chance for fringe players to make an impression before regular season starts Tuesday; Buchnevich (lower-body injury) misses practice; Bolduc wants to make one more push for coaches to make difficult choice
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- For the St. Louis Blues playing in their final preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee (7 p.m.; NHL Network), it's the last chance to make a lasting impression before the regular season begins on Tuesday.
That means Zack Bolduc, the No. 17 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, gets a last chance to prove his worth.
Not that he was singled out since the majority of the team looked lethargic on Tuesday in a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Bolduc has since been dropped from the top 12 after getting lots of looks in the top six during camp.
"It's another chance for me to show what I can do and what I can bring to this team," Bolduc said. "We'll go there tonight to play hockey and win a game.
"I had a little bit of a tougher game against Columbus, but these games happen. It's always the way you answer to those games."
The Blues (2-4-0) mixed up their lines Wednesday in practice and went out and played their best game of the preseason Thursday, a 4-3 overtime win against the Dallas Stars, a lineup Bolduc was not part of.
"I had one video session with [coach] Drew (Bannister) and I had another one with 'Babs' [skating coach Michael Babcock]. Communication's good. For sure, you've got to manage your thing on your side, but the competition has been very good.
"You cannot stay in the past. You've got to look forward. There's another game tonight and just got to be ready for this one."
Bannister said Bolduc has been very receptive and coachable throughout camp.
"The one thing I've learned about 'Boldy' and coaching him at the American League level is he's a very coachable player," Bannister said. "He wants to learn and he wants to get better. For a younger player, when you're talking to him, he's looking at you straight in the eye like he's getting the message. As a coach, you appreciate that because you don't always have that. He's a player that wants to get better and he wants to play in the NHL."
Overall, Bolduc feels like his camp has been good.
"I think I had a good camp and it's still going on," he said. "I think I did well. I had one tough game against Columbus here, but I think I'm playing with confidence and skating well. I've just got to use my strengths as much as I can.
"I want to be here. I want to help the team to win some games and have a great season. Right now, I'm just focusing on going day to day with what happens. I'm focused for today's game."
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Not only Bolduc, but skaters like defensemen P.O. Joseph, Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker all will be in the lineup tonight, as will forwards Zach Dean, Dalibor Dvorsky, Mathieu Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker.
A number of them still have some impressing to do.
"Obviously we're going to have some guys that are going to get another opportunity that left us earlier in the week, so again, see how they get to play, see our younger guys play," Bannister said. "Our guys that are with us right now, the seven or eight guys, making sure that we're playing towards our standards, our work ethic, our commitment and just doing the right things and what we're asking of our players. Just our habits in our game and our details in our game and just the overall structure of what we're looking for."
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The full group also practiced on Saturday and the notable absentee was forward Pavel Buchnevich, who is nursing a lower-body injury, who at the moment isn't in danger of missing the opener against the Kraken.
"A little bit of lower-body tenderness that we were able to manage yesterday and we have the time off, we still have a practice when we get to Seattle, a day off with travel tomorrow," Bannister said. "Just making sure that he's 100 percent going into the game on Tuesday.
"Nothing that's been told of me from our trainers right now (about missing Tuesday), so just continue maintenance with the lower-body issue that he has right now."
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Forward Brandon Saad will not play on the season-opening three-game road trip as he waits for the birth of his third child, and the Blues haven't made it official but forward Oskar Sundqvist (torn right ACL) is expected to start the season on injured-reserve. It means there still are a few decisions that need to be made among forwards.
"I think there's still difficult decisions to make," Bannister said. "Obviously with some of our forwards, 'Sunny' being injured (and) 'Saader' not being available for us on the first trip, there's still decisions to be made, but some players have come in and played themselves into the lineup and grabbed a spot. Another opportunity here tonight to come out and for players to impress."
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Blues roster:
Forwards -- Zack Bolduc, Zach Dean, Dalibor Dvorsky, Mathieu Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Mathias Laferriere, Mackenzie MacEachern, Hugh McGing, Dylan Peterson, Alexey Toropchenko, Nathan Walker.
Defensemen -- Samuel Johannesson, P.O Joseph, Scott Perunovich, Corey Schueneman, Hunter Skinner, Tyler Tucker.
Goalies -- Joel Hofer, Vadim Zherenko. Zherenko will play the first two periods; Hofer gets the third and if necessary, beyond.
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Blackhawks roster:
Forwards -- Ryan Donato, Zach Sanford, Joey Anderson, Philipp Kurashev, Colton Dach, Samuel Savoie, Cole Guttman, Lukas Reichel, Landon Slaggert, Andreas Athanasiou, Frank Nazar, Connor Bedard.
Defensemen -- Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, Isaak Philipps, Nolan Allan, Louis Crevier, Austin Strand.
Goalies -- Drew Commesso, Arvid Soderblom.
