ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues will look to make it two in a row under interim coach Drew Bannister when they host the Dallas Stars in the final game of a three-game homestand today (7 p.m.; BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The Blues (14-14-1) are coming off a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday in Bannister's debut when he took over for the fired Craig Berube on Tuesday following a 6-4 loss against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Stars (17-8-3) are coming in to play the second of a back-to-back after knocking off the Senators themselves, 5-4, on Friday, rallying from two two-goal deficits to do so.
"I had the opportunity to watch them last night," Bannister said of the Stars. "They're a team that is comfortable playing from behind; they can score goals. They're dangerous certainly off the rush. Their power play executes at a high standard. Tonight for is, we need to be aggressive but we need to play over top of them. Discipline is going to be a big factor going in here tonight.
"Certainly we want to try and take advantage of that. They played last night. They had to travel to get in here, so we have to be on our toes. But when I say aggressive, time and space. We want to be on top of them here tonight, eliminate their space, not give them as much space to be able to get skating. Safe is dead at any level you play at. We want to make sure that we're aggressive."
It's the first matchup between the teams since the season-opener, won by the Stars 2-1 in a shootout.
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Tyler Tucker, who is in the lineup for a second straight game, had himself a spirited bout with hometown's Brady Tkachuk in the second period Thursday.
It was a moment that the defenseman said players just know will happen, and he was quite ready for it.
"Obviously we're up 3-0, he's a competitor," Tucker said of Tkachuk. "Hard to say no to a guy like that.
"I felt good. It's obviously been a while since I fought, last year. It's part of the game. Happy to do it."
The Senators needed a push and their captain provided it. Ottawa scored not long after to get to within two at 3-1 but could get no closer.
"I think we kind of knew that," Tucker said. "He was out there a couple shifts before playing hard. They came with a push obviously. That's something he's going to do to try and fire up his team. I think for us, it's the same thing. Guys get excited for that stuff. You just handle their pushes. "
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Bannister wasted little time inserting Mackenzie MacEachern into the lineup after the forward was called up from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
MacEachern played 8:48 and had four hits in the game playing on the fourth line.
"I just have a lot of trust in 'Mac,'" Bannister said. "He was an outstanding player for us down in Springfield. He was a direct player and he's easy to play with. You know what you're going to get every night. He plays towards his identity. I liked his physicality the other night and that's something that we need, especially in that bottom six to give our guys up top a little bit of a rest at times, to be able to have these guys going. And to be able to play four lines."
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The Stars are likely to have to use an emergency backup goalie for tonight's game after Jake Oettinger sustained a lower-body injury on Friday and will be unable to backup.
Joe O'Brien, who is part of the family business OB Clark in Brentwood, was on the ice this morning working out in preparation to be the Stars EBUG in case of a callup to back up starter Scott Wedgewood.
O'Brien, from Clayton, is a graduate from CBC High School (2009-13) and was a member of the St. Louis AAA Blues U-16 and U-18 programs, playing for current Blues senior advisor Al MacInnis before playing college at Niagara University (2015-19).
"I was downstairs changing kegs and I got a text from Blues assistant GM Ryan Miller saying, 'Hey, here's the situation. We'll just kind of keep you updated. They'll probably need you for the morning skate. From there, we'll kind of see,' and after that, got a phone call from Dallas' assistant GM and I just had to kind of be here and we'll kind of take it from there," O'Brien said.
O'Brien, who will have to sign an amateur tryout agreement if used, has been in this situation before. He's on his third year of being an EBUG, saying, "Knock on wood, nothing crazy. I think the closest was when the Blues were playing Colorado in the (Western Conference Second Round in 2022) when [Jordan] Binnington went out with the knee injury (in Game 3). That was kind of a whirlwind of things. I had to come down and get suited up for that, just kind of sit there and count minutes, which has never been longer. You just try to count down to the five-minute intervals. ... I came down in the coach's room and I just put on half of my gear and I watched the game from the video coach's office. Siting there not really knowing what to expect."
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko-Kevin Hayes-Jake Neighbours
Mackenzie MacEachern-Oskar Sundqvist-Hugh McGing
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Sammy Blais, Nikita Alexandrov and Scott Perunovich. The Blues report no injuries.
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The Stars' projected lineup:
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn-Wyatt Johnston-Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment-Matt Duchene-Tyler Seguin
Craig Smith-Radek Faksa-Sam Steel
Ryan Suter-Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell-Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley-Joel Hanley
Scott Wedgewood will start in goal; Joe O'Brien could be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Ty Dellandrea and Nils Lundkvist. Jake Oettinger (lower body) is out.
