(11-14-23) Lightning-Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues (7-5-1) will look to keep it rolling when they make a quick pitstop at home for a Tuesday matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning (6-5-4) at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The Blues have won four of five and will look to build off an 8-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche when they host a Lightning squad that's dropped two in a row but has an extensively-talented lineup.

"They've got great players over there," Blues coach Craig Berube said of the Lightning. "We all know that. Lethal power play. We've got to be disciplined, but we've got to check hard tonight. We've got to really do a good job. They're a competitive team, hard-working team with skill. That's a dangerous combination and that's why they've been good for as long as they have, and we've got to do a good job against their top guys for sure and keep playing our type of game that we're playing right now and not get away with it."

The Blues will keep their lineup together for the third straight game, aside from goalie, in search of their third straight win, which would be a season-high.

"I think overall, we're getting good work from all the lines, what their job is and what they're doing," Berube said. "'Sunny,' 'Blaiser' and [Jake] Neighbours have been a real good identity line in my opinion. Also, they've scored some goals for us. Obviously 'Sunny' on the penalty kill has done a good job, but that line's been a real good identity line, a forecheck line, a heavy line and they're playing to that identity. The other two (top) lines, I think they've been doing their job. They play against the top lines of other teams. Overall, I'm pretty happy with what they've done from a checking standpoint to a production standpoint. Yeah, Jordan Kyrou, the puck's not going in the net like he wants it to, but the chances are there and they'll eventually go in."

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Berube has mixed and matched his defensive pairings when needed, but one pair he's been consistent with throughout this season, in particular, is that of Torey Krug and Justin Faulk, arguably the Blues' most consistent pair.

They've been on the ice together for 219:13 in all situations, according to naturalstattrick.com and even though their Corsi-for and Fenwick numbers are below 50 percent, they've been on the ice for just five goals against, including just three in 5-on-5 situations.

"It goes back a few years now when we put them together," Berube said. "They've always had real good chemistry with the puck I think more than anything. The puck movement between the two of them, they read off each other really well, who's joining the rush, they cover up for each other. They've been good defensively. I think they've both competed hard in our zone and killed plays and done a good job there.

"Krug's defending has been really good this year, for me. I think that he's playing a highly-competitive game right now in the d-zone. Offensively, the numbers aren't as good as he wants them to be or we want them to be, but that's not from a lack of opportunities or try. It just wasn't clicking. The power play, he was part of that power play last game and they produced. I think that will obviously give him a little bit of confidence. Overall, they've been real aggressive in our zone and doing a good job there and killing plays and breakouts and things like that. They just have good chemistry together."

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Former Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Monday, along with former Blues players, forward Pierre Turgeon and goalie Tom Barrasso, and Berube said he was able to take in Hitchcock's speech.

"I did. He did a great job," Berube said. "Very well-deserving to be indicted into the Hall of Fame, very happy for him. Wish I could have been there, but it is what it is. Very happy for him.

"I played for Hitch as a young guy in junior and then pro. I think the one thing you take from Hitch is he's a relentless coach and he never stops working, never stops trying to improve in areas of your team needs. Whether you're winning, losing, he's just non-stop. That's the biggest thing I took from him. He's just relentless. It never stops. He never stops trying to get better. He doesn't take a break grabbing players and the team and constantly talking to them about things or working on things and trying to improve. I think that's one of the biggest things you can take from Hitch, to be honest with you."

Hitchcock is second among Blues coaches in wins with 248, behind only Joel Quenneville and Turgeon, who played 19 years in the league with the Blues (five seasons), Buffalo Sabres (five seasons), New York Islanders (four seasons), Montreal Canadiens (three seasons), Dallas Stars (three seasons) and Avalanche (two seasons), had the most points with the Blues (355 on 134 goals and 221 assists) and games played (327) of any of his stops.

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The Blues' projected lineup:

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Kasperi Kapanen

Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Vrana

Sammy Blais-Oskar Sundqvist-Jake Neighbours

Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Scott Perunovich

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.

Healthy scratches projected to be Robert Bortuzzo, Tyler Tucker and Nikita Alexandrov. The Blues report no injuries.

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The Lightning's projected lineup:

Brandon Hagel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov

Steven Stamkos-Nick Paul-Alex Barre-Boulet

Tanner Jeannot-Anthony Cirelli-Michael Eyssimont

Tyler Motte-Luke Glendening-Waltteri Merela

Victor Hedman-Philippe Myers

Mikhail Sergachev-Darren Raddysh

Calvin de Haan-Nick Perbix

Jonas Johansson will start in goal; Matt Tomkins will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Austin Watson. Andrei Vasilevskiy (back), Erik Cernak (undisclosed) and Conor Sheary (upper body) are out.