(4-10-24) Blackhawks-Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS -- There's still a pulse.

Until someone tells the St. Louis Blues they are no longer in the hunt for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they must treat each and every game in front of them like it's life-or-death in hockey terms.

That's the challenge when the Blues (41-32-5) open their final homestand of the season when they host the Chicago Blackhawks (23-49-5) at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The scenario is as such: the Blues trail the Vegas Golden Knights by five points with four games left; Vegas has five games, including one tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. The Golden Knights will clinch a playoff berth If they defeat the Oilers in regulation and the Blues lose to the Blackhawks in any fashion, or if Vegas defeats the Edmonton in overtime or shootout and the Blues lose to the Blackhawks in regulation.

The Los Angeles Kings will clinch a playoff berth if the Blues lose to the Blackhawks in regulation.

But if the Blues win tonight and the Golden Knights lose in regulation, this will get quirky again and draw the Blues within three points with three games left.

"We're really just focused on competing," Blues defenseman Matthew Kessel said. "We'd obviously like to be in a better position where there would be a bigger chance, but all you can do is just compete every game and go out and win games. That's what we want to do every game."

The Blues conclude their season with home games tonight, Friday against Carolina and Sunday against Seattle before closing out the regular season a week from tonight in Dallas. They understand their plight.

"We have to play to win hockey games and then hope that some other team stumbled down the road here," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "We can't factor into that. We have to take care of our hockey games and with games especially at home here, I think our fans deserve that and we want to make sure we take pride in our hockey game when we come here Wednesday, Friday and Sunday."

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The Blues will make Kevin Hayes a healthy scratch for the second time in three games after the center played in the first 76 games of the season.

It's not only a question of getting younger players into the lineup, such as Zach Dean and Nikita Alexandrov, Zack Bolduc and such, but also needing more from those veteran players.

"I think from 'Haysie', we need more from him," Bannister said. "I think what we said before, we're looking to put veteran players with younger players and we expect our veteran guys to do the right thing and lead by example. And I felt in that game, especially late in the first period that 'Haysie' made a decision that we wouldn't want any of our players to make. I expect him to be better and he is a better hockey player. I think he expects better from himself so tonight, he'll be able to sit back and watch, but I wouldn't expect him to be out of the lineup too long here."

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Jake Neighbours was on the ice for the morning skate, but the forward will not play tonight, his second straight game missed, due to a head injury following a check from San Jose Sharks Luke Kunin in the second period on Saturday that got defenseman Justin Faulk (week to week; upper body injury) injured on the ensuing fight.

"We're just kind of working him back in, so today was the first time that he was on the ice," Bannister said of Neighbours. "We'll see how that goes today and then we'll progress him and obviously if it goes well, we'll progress him into practice tomorrow and hopefully some contact."

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Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker continue to get looks being paired with veteran defensemen.

Perunovich played with Colton Parayko on Sunday in Anaheim, and Tucker was paired with Nick Leddy and they'll proceed like this again tonight.

"I think they've played really well," Bannister said. "I really liked 'Perun's game last game. I thought he was outstanding in the way he moved the puck. 'Tucks' again, I think he's had three really strong games for us physically. That was kind of our plan with our forward group and our D-group to get them veteran presence to guide the way and make sure that they're doing the right things and that the young guys are doing the work too."

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As for Kessel, who has grabbed a plethora of responsibilities since his initial recall on Dec. 30 this season, he's adding penalty kill time to his role.

"These last couple games, I think we've gotten it a little bit more," Kessel said. "Obviously getting some PK minutes has been good for me. Up here it's a little different obviously. It's a little bit different of a kill structure. You're playing against NHL power plays and top skill on those is quite different."

It's a role in which Bannister used the right-handed defenseman in while he was coaching Kessel in Springfield of the American Hockey League earlier in the season, so the comfort level is there.

"I think for 'Kess', that's going to be part of his game at the NHL level. I think when we made some adjustments to his game at the American League level. That was one thing that we focused on with him is wehad him a little bit on the power play at one point. In killing, we just wanted him to focus on being a (penalty) killer, a shutdown guy. I think with how he's played here and the transition, it's good to start giving him more right now and see how he does with it."

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The Blues projected lineup:

Zack Bolduc-Robert Thomas-Brayden Schenn

Brandon Saad-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou

Alexey Toropchenko-Zach Dean-Kasperi Kapanen

Nathan Walker-Nikita Alexandrov-Sammy Blais

Scott Perunovich-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Matthew Kessel

Nick Leddy-Tyler Tucker

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

Healthy scratches include Kevin Hayes and Marco Scandella. Justin Faulk (upper body) is week to week and will likely miss the rest of the regular season; Jake Neighbours (upper body) is out, day to day; Oskar Sundqvist (torn right ACL) is out for the season.

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The Blackhawks' projected lineup:

Lukas Reichel-Connor Bedard-Philipp Kurashev

Tyler Johnson-Andreas Athanasiou-Taylor Raddysh

Colin Blackwell-Jason Dickinson-Joey Anderson

Ryan Donato-MacKenzie Entwistle-Landon Slaggert

Alex Vlasic-Seth Jones

Kevin Korchinski-Jaycob Megna

Jarred Tinordi-Nikita Zaitsev

Petr Mrazek will start in goal; Arvid Soderblom will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Nick Foligno and Wyatt Kaiser. Connor Murphy (groin)and Reese Johnson (concussion) are out.