The St. Louis Blues have been trending in the wrong direction, and their hopes of righting the ship tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes even more daunting as they'll be without Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.
The St. Louis Blues are losers of four of their last five games and have dropped three consecutive games. Tonight, they'll be in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins, but will do so with Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.
Most of the Blues' issues in the early part of the season have been defensively. They've allowed the second-most goals per game, but own a 3-4-1 record because of their 16th-ranked offense. They've been able to combat their defensive issues with offense, but tonight the challenge to do so is increasingly difficult as they'll be without Thomas and Neighbours.
Although Thomas is off to a slow start, he's led the Blues in scoring the past two seasons, and Neighbours currently leads the Blues in goals and points.
“We’re missing two of our top nine forwards, so it impacts our depth of scoring, but the mentality of our team is going to be the same. We’re going to check our asses off. Excuse my language,” said coach Jim Montgomery.
The two forwards returning to the lineup to replace the injured Thomas and Neighbours are Alexey Toropchenko and Alexandre Texier.
(10-27-25) Blues-Penguins Gameday Lineup
Thomas, Neighbours out with injuries, each considered day to day, Toropchenko returns; with first back-to-back set of season, Blues going to Joel Hofer, who has been pulled in his past two starts at home with Detroit on deck at home Tuesday
Toropchenko sustained an injury in the first game of the season and hasn't played since then. Texier, who came into the lineup to replace Toropchenko, will return to the lineup having played five games, notching one assist.
The Blues have confirmed they will be without Thomas and Neighbours tonight, but their status for tomorrow's rematch against the Detroit Red Wings is unknown. Although it is a very quick turnaround, the Blues hope they'll have Thomas and Neighbours' services for tomorrow's contest.
Thomas left Saturday's game with appeared to be an apparent upper-body injury, and Neighbours blocked a heavy shot and, despite finishing the game, is out with what is considered a lower-body injury. Both have deemed day-to-day.
“We brought in this extra depth for that reason, if we got injuries, two players (Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad) that we brought up the middle, and we can. We still have four NHL centers that have logged a lot of NHL games.”
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