(4-5-25) Avalanche-Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS – The injury news could not have come at a worse time for Dylan Holloway.

The St. Louis Blues forward was going to miss at least the next two games, including a Saturday home date against the Colorado Avalanche (6 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) and to begin the start of the final road trip of the season starting Monday against the Winnipeg Jets.

They do this putting their franchise-tying 11-game winning streak and franchise-record 10-game home winning streak on the line against a formidable opponent the Blues just beat 2-1 a week ago on Saturday.

Now with a diagnosis that will sideline Holloway week to week, the Blues (42-28-7), who are in the thick of the playoff chase, two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card in the Western Conference, must now live life without 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) in their lineup.

“We were hoping for better news; we were hoping for day to day instead of week to week and we’ll just see how it progresses now,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Now it’s reality. We know what it is. We’ll see how we do with his recovery.”

What it means is Jimmy Snuggerud will move into a top six role, playing with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.

“It’ll be fun,” Snuggerud said. “It’s fun hockey this time of the year. I’m fortunate to be in the spot that I’m in right now. I’m just going to make the most of it and try and play my game.

“They’re really good playmakers. Try and shoot the puck in certain situations, but try to get the puck back to them too, have good communication on the bench, on the ice, whatever it is.”

The goal is to get Holloway get ready as close to the playoffs as possible at this point.

“For him, that’s all there is,” Montgomery said. “Week to week, it’s just a different type of injury we haven’t dealt with. It’s how quickly does it mend. Is it a week, is it two weeks? I don’t know.”

So what will the Blues miss most with Holloway out?

“’Holly’s a different animal,” Montgomery said. “I think he leads us with his dogged, relentless pursuit of the puck. Someone’s going to have to fulfill that, but we have a lot of players that have the ability and capability to fulfill that type of role.

“It just goes back to the herd, the pack mentality. We’ve been able to go well without [Colton] Parayko, and I don’t think there could have been a bigger loss than Parayko. And we’ve kind of just dealt with it. We didn’t have ‘Buchy’ for two games I believe and there again is another top six winger that plays in all the important situations just like ‘Holly’ does.”

That someone will start off being Jake Neighbours, who will slot into Holloway’s role with Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou.

“Jake Neighbours is the perfect teammate,” Montgomery said. “He’ll do whatever the team needs. And I don’t even need to talk to him about it because I remember when I had him playing with ‘Sunny’ and ‘Boldy’ for a while. I brought him in after about two or three games and I was like, ‘I want to play you higher up in the lineup, but this is why we need you there.’ He said, ‘I figured that’s what you needed.’ His mindset, he knows what ‘Holly’ brought to that line. He’s going to do it in a different way. He doesn’t skate like ‘Holly,’ but his little details and his greasiness in and around the net is something every line can use and that’s why his line’s been so successful when he’s been with ‘Tommer’ and ‘Buchy.’”

But for Snuggerud to jump into a top role playing in just his third game speaks volumes of what the coaches already think of him.

“I think the important think for ‘Snuggy’ is to concentrate on the details that have helped him have success so far,” Montgomery said. “He gets open, he supports the puck well, defensively his details have been really good. If he just keeps doing that, I’m not going to worry about production. This kid can score, and he can make plays.”

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud

Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Zack Bolduc-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker

Cam Fowler-Nick Leddy

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker

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

The healthy scratch includes Matthew Kessel. Colton Parayko (knee), Dylan Holloway (lower body) and Alexandre Texier (upper body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

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Avalanche Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Valeri Nichushkin

Jimmy Vesey-Brock Nelson-Ross Colton

Miles Wood-Charlie Coyle-Joel Kiviranta

Parker Kelly-Jack Drury-Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews-Cale Makar

Ryan Lindgren-Sam Malinski

Keaton Middleton-Erik Johnson

Mackenzie Blackwood will start in goal; Scott Wedgewood will be the backup.

The Avalanche have no healthy scratches. Josh Manson (upper body), Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Tucker Poolman (head), Martin Necas (upper body), Jonathan Drouin (lower body) and Samuel Girard (lower body) are all out.