ST. LOUIS -- The Blues, coming off a solid 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals in D.C. on Friday, went with a full practice on Saturday in preparation for Sunday's hole tilt when they will host the Winnipeg Jets (6 p.m.; BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
And the Blues (30-33-5) will turn back to Joel Hofer between the pipes after the goaltender was solid in a 32-save performance against the Capitals.
Hofer was recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions on Thursday after Jordan Binnington was suspended two games by the NHL's Department of Player Safety for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct against Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman in the second period of an 8-5 loss on Wednesday.
Hofer, who will be Binnington's backup next season, is now 2-1-0 with a 2.71 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in three NHL starts, including two last season. The Winnipeg native will start Sunday against his hometown.
"Solid. Just confident, really big in net and handling the puck well and doing those things," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Hofer. "Strong in his crease. I thought he looked very calm, pretty cool under pressure."
In the victory, which saw Sammy Blais get his first multi-goal game in the NHL and Pavel Buchnevich extending his point streak to 11 games (seven goals, 12 assists), Kasperi Kapanen potting his third goal as a Blue, Jordan Kyrou netting his team-leading 31st goal and Nick Leddy and Brandon Saad each collecting two assists, Berube a group that came out firing from the drop of the puck.
"I just thought we were really ready to play, moved the puck really well early," Berube said. "Defended our net really well. I thought we did a really good job for two periods. Third period, we got (into) a little bit of penalty trouble, and we didn’t have enough o-zone time in the third. They’re making a push, we took a couple penalties. But we did a good job down the stretch defending it and winning the hockey game."
The Blues have now scored three or more goals in five straight games, matching the second-longest streak of the season, only trailing the seven-game streak in which they won seven in a row Nov. 10-21, 2022.
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Speaking of Buchnevich, who also has 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) the past 15 games, he joined some elite Blues company in reaching an 11-game point streak in consecutive seasons (had a 12-game point streak last season).
Buchnevich joins Adam Oates (1990-91 and 1991-92), Brett Hull (1988-89 and 1989-90) and Bernie Federko (1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86) as the only players in franchise history with 11-game point streaks in consecutive seasons.
Buchnevich's audition as a center continues and Berube has some moving parts flanking him, including now Alexey Toropchenko along with Kapanen.
"I had 'Buchy' with [Jakub] Vrana and Kapanen for a few games," Berube said. "There was good stuff, but just not enough for me. So try something different.
"... You do need chemistry. You’re looking for a few different things on a line. It doesn’t always work out that way just because of personnel and things like that. But 'Buchy' likes the puck and he likes to hang on to the puck and make plays. He’s a rush player. He’s not in a hurry to shoot it or anything like that. He wants to move it around and hang on to it. I think 'Torpo' does a good job there with those guys of getting on pucks in the offensive zone for them and creating loose pucks. He’ll do a good job there of getting to the net, too. We’ll see how it goes."
Toropchenko had been playing with Kyrou and Robert Thomas the past few games, but Berube moved Vrana with them in the second period and it presents a line with a lot of speed and a lot of skill and shooting ability.
"Wanted to just provide something different," Berube said. "They ended up getting a goal, which was a big goal for us. Just tinkering around with some things."
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Don't look now, but Blais is starting to find his stride as a goal scorer, believe it or not, and now has six in six (nine points) in 17 games since being re-acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 9, and he's thriving with Saad and Brayden Schenn.
Blais has out-scored Vladimir Tarasenko, who Blais was traded for, 6-4 since the trade.
"Both those guys, 'Saader' and 'Schenner,' are going to get the puck to the net, and he’s at the net," Berube said of Blais. "That’s where he’s going to get most of his goals, and he does a good job for us there.
"It’s a heavy line, that’s the way I look at it. They’re a big, heavy line. All decent skaters. You can match them up against anybody."
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Jake Neighbours continues to practice and is nearing a return to the Blues lineup.
Neighbours, who suffered an upper-body injury (believed to be a shoulder) on Feb. 19 against the Ottawa Senators, practiced in full again on Saturday and has been doing so for the better part of the past week.
"He’s good. He’s close," Berube said. "When he feels he’s ready, he’ll let us know and he’ll be ready to play. He’ll be playing."
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The Blues assigned forward Nikita Alexandrov and defenseman Tyler Tucker to the Thunderbirds on Saturday.
Alexandrov had seven points (three goals, four assists) in 28 games with the Blues, and Tucker had a goal and three assists in 24 games playing in St. Louis.
With Springfield playing well and gearing towards the playoffs, each player is eligible to play in the playoffs and the Blues wanted to get them down now with 13 games remaining to get them playing and in a groove with those players.
"Yeah, for sure, they’re in a pretty good spot there, so those two guys will really help that team," Berube said. "They came up here and did a good job for us, getting NHL experience is really good, but I think it’s important they go down and play good minutes and a lot of hockey.
"They’ll really help down there. They did a good job up here. Really happy with their improvement and contributing up here and doing a good job."
Each player has made enough of an impression that they will not only battle for spots in St. Louis next year but be counted on to make it.
"Oh, for sure, they’ll come into camp and they’ll be pushing for sure," Berube said.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Jakub Vrana-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko-Pavel Buchnevich-Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Sammy Blais
Nathan Walker-Logan Brown-Josh Leivo
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Marco Scandella-Justin Faulk
Torey Krug-Robert Bortuzzo
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Thomas Greiss will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Tyler Pitlick and Calle Rosen. Jake Neighbours (upper body) is out. Jordan Binnington will serve the second game of a two-game suspension.
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The Jets' projected lineup:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Nino Niederreiter
Nikolaj Ehlers-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Blake Wheeler
Vladislav Namestnikov-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron-Kevin Stenlund-Saku Maenalanen
Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon-Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg-Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck is projected to start in goal; David Rittich would be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Karson Kuhlman, Kyle Capobianco, Logan Stanley, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and David Gustafsson. Cole Perfetti (upper body) and Sam Gagner (hip) are out.