(3-4-26) Blues-Kraken Gameday Lineup

The St. Louis Blues know what time of year it is, and they certainly know what may or may not happen, as captain Brayden Schenn outlined on Tuesday before departing on a three-game west coast road trip.

But one thing that the Blues (22-29-9), who face the Seattle Kraken (29-22-9) at 9 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday, know for sure is that the schedule doesn't stop, and just because there could be change between now and Friday's NHL Trade Deadline at 2 p.m. (CT), that doesn't mean you stop playing until something definitive happens.

The Blues have taken two of three coming out of the Olympic break, including a 5-1 win against this very same Seattle squad last Thursday in St. Louis when Dylan Holloway scored his second NHL hat trick, and despite being 14 points out of the second wild card in the Western Conference, all they can do is the best and let the chips fall where they may.

"I don't think that Jersey game (Saturday, a 3-1 loss) were as good as we needed to be," Schenn said. "I thought 'Binner' was really good in front of us. I thought the other two games we played good, we've played hard, we've played defensive. I know we weren't winning a lot before the break, but I felt like we did take some steps in certain areas of our game. I don't want to say that's all the games before the break, but guys are definitely more confident offensively and putting the puck in the net. I think our battle and compete level's been pretty good here as of late, and when you do that, you either get the results that win you a hockey game or you stay in hockey games and give yourself a chance."

The Blues are coming off a solid road win against the Minnesota Wild, 3-1 on Sunday to snap a 10-game road losing streak, and coach Jim Montgomery cited one specific reason why.

"We won 56 percent of our battles," he said. "That's two out of three games where we've won 55 percent or more and we've won both, and then the third period, how we managed the game, how smart we played on the road. Minnesota's a good team, they had more chances than us, our goalie had to be good on the road, but we only gave them six Grade A's. So you can live with that. Offensively, we didn't create enough. The second period, we bent, but we didn't break and in the third period, it's just smart hockey. We didn't try and force anything offensively or defensively. We were patient, we got rewarded for that, and our top line made a nice play to win the game."

As far as winning battles, Montgomery said a good percentage is, "I think if we can be over 51 percent, that means you have the puck more than you're chasing it. The other team's trying to win battles, too. Everyone's trying to be over 51 percent. That's why 51 percent doesn't sound like a lot, but it means you're playing with the puck more than you're chasing it."

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The Blues will ice the same lineup as Sunday, meaning Colton Parayko will miss his third straight game with back spasms, and Joel Hofer will start the third game in the past four.

"Colton's doing well, he's progressing," Montgomery said, adding Parayko is on the trip. "Not a player [Wednesday]."

Nathan Walker and Jonatan Berggren will be healthy scratches.

"We were in a favorable matchup," Montgomery said of facing the Kraken last week. "They played the night before. They were two games to start off on the road. Now they've had a couple practices, they beat Carolina. We're going to face a much better team and they're going to be at home. The challenge for us is going to be can we replicate how many battles we won. We were 56 percent against them in the game (we) won, and we've got to try and be again above 51 percent."

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud

Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou

Pius Suter-Dalibor Dvorsky-Dylan Holloway

Alexey Toropchenko-Jack Finley-Oskar Sundqvist

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux

Tyler Tucker-Matthew Kessel

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

Healthy scratches include Nathan Walker and Jonatan Berggren. Colton Parayko (back spasms) is out.

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Kraken Projected Lineup:

Jared McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle

Jaden Schwartz-Chandler Stephenson-Eeli Tolvanen

Berkly Catton-Shane Wright-Kaapo Kakko

Ben Meyers-Frederick Gaudreau-Jacob Melanson

Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak-Brandon Montour

Ryker Evans-Ryan Lindgren

Philipp Grubauer is projected to start in goal; Joey Daccord would be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Haydn Fleury, Josh Mahura and Ryan Winterton. Matt Murray (lower body) is out.

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