Central Division rivals separated by two points in Western Conference wild card; With Krug-Kessel working well, a Faulk-Perunovich pairing is off to a good start; can Faulk bring Perunovich to another level; Blues head equipment manager Rich Matthews working 2,500th game
ST. LOUIS -- Another game, another test for the St. Louis Blues (34-29-3), who entertain the Minnesota Wild (33-27-7) today at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) in a must-win for both sides to stay relevant in the Western Conference wild card race.
The Blues are coming off two straight wins, each in impressive fashion, with wins against the Boston Bruins (5-1) and Los Angeles Kings (3-1) and need the game in order to catch the Wild, who are 5-0-1 the past six games since Minnesota's last regulation loss, 3-1 here at Enterprise Center two weeks ago to the day.
"They're all important right now," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "The task ahead, the task in front of us here (tonight) will be important. Our guys understand where we are in the standings with the situation the way it is. We know how important these games are. We'll get ourselves ready for Saturday."
The Blues will keep the same lineup from the past two games, with Jordan Binnington getting another start in goal and he'll face Marc-Andre Fleury, making his fourth straight start for the Wild.
"We get a big win in Boston, there's more energy, guys feeling good about themselves and then certainly the game against L.A., we're getting that feeling back in our room where guys are feeling good about themselves and they know where we are," Bannister said. "It's fun coming to the rink this morning knowing you're playing in meaningful games."
- - -
The past two games, Justin Faulk has been skating with Scott Perunovich and it has worked out as well.
"I thought they played really well together," Bannister said. "All three pairings obviously, the Leddy-'Pary' has been a real good pair for us since I've come in. Now having six healthy defensemen, 'Kruger' and 'Kess' have had some success and now you see Faulk and 'Perun' feeling good about themselves and get their game to where they want it to be, having six guys on our back end like that that can move pucks and defend is certainly for us, since the Boston game has been an added positive for our group.
"I think they both move the puck really well. I think Faulk defends hard, he's heavy, is able to end plays and Scotty had kind of come in and cleaned up pucks and get in transition. But they both transition pucks really well. We feel that we have three pairings that can defend and transition pucks up to our forwards quickly."
Perunovich could certainly benefit from playing with the veteran Faulk, having put up 14 assists in 40 games this season, but Bannister said there is another level he can get to, especially on the power play.
"I think so, yeah. I think there's opportunities on the power play where we'd like to see him shoot a little bit more," Bannister said. "Right now, that's not in his DNA, but we've got to pound that into him more. If he wants to be an effective power play guy, he can't be a pass-first all the time, so he has to look to shoot pucks more. There's still room to grow in Scotty's game defensively and even when he has the puck on his stick, but he does a lot of good things."
- - -
Blues head equipment manager Rich Matthews will work his 2,500th game tonight.
Matthews has worked for the Blues since 2017 when he was brought in as the assistant equipment manager and took the head role in 2020.
Matthews had worked the previous 17 years with the New Jersey Devils and his career had him with the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Vipers of the old International Hockey League.
"Twenty-five hundred games, three Stanley Cups, I think he's been in the game for 27 years," Bannister said. "It's a pretty impressive stretch of hockey and teams he's been a part of. We're very lucky to have a person like him behind the scenes and what he does. Pretty proud of him on what he's done. It's quite an accomplishment to be in the game for as long as he has."
- - -
The Blues' projected lineup:
Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Zack Bolduc-Pavel Buchnevich-Jake Neighbours
Brandon Saad-Kevin Hayes-Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel
Scott Perunovich-Justin Faulk
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Marco Scandella, Sammy Blais, Nikita Alexandrov, Tyler Tucker and Zach Dean. The Blues report no injuries.
- - -
The Wild's projected lineup:
Kirill Kaprizov-Ryan Hartman-Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson-Marco Rossi-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno-Marat Khusnutdinov-Frederick Gaudreau
Mason Shaw-Jake Lucchini-Vinni Lettieri
Jake Middleton-Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin-Zach Bogosian
Declan Chisholm-Jon Merrill
Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal; Filip Gustavsson will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Alex Goligoski, Adam Beckman and Dakota Mermis. Jared Spurgeon (hip) and Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body) are out.
