It’s been a common theme this season that the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis], after a lopsided loss, tend to change things up, move players around and/or bring new faces into the lineup. They will not do that on Friday when the Blues (17-19-8) oppose the Utah Mammoth [http://thn.com/utah] (21-20-3) at 8 p.m. (FDSNMW, KMOV-4, Matrix Midwest, ESPN 101.1-FM). They’re coming off that lopsided 7-3 loss [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/observations-from-blues-7-3-loss-vs-blackhawks] to the Chicago Blackhawks [http://thn.com/chicago] on Wednesday, the 15th time in 19 regulation losses the Blues have lost this season by three goals or more. So instead of pulling out the old line blender for the umpteenth time, coach Jim Montgomery will keep the same lineup together, with one exception: Joel Hofer, who was supposed to replace Jordan Binnington late in the third period of Wednesday’s game that never materialized because of a communication snafu [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/binnington-hofer-third-period-mishap-wednesday-just-a-snafu], will get the start on Friday, likely indicating Binnington will start on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights [http://thn.com/vegas]. We'll see if the Blues can rebound again, as they have the last four times with a win after they've lost by three or more goals. - - - Blues Projected Lineup: Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou Pavel Buchnevich-Brayden Schenn-Jimmy Snuggerud Otto Stenberg-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jonatan Berggren Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Robby Fabbri, Mathieu Joseph and Matthew Kessel. Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain), Pius Suter (high ankle sprain) and Nick Bjugstad (upper body) are out. - - - Mammoth projected lineup Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Lawson Crouse JJ Peterka-Barrett Hayton-Dylan Guenther Michael Carcone-Jack McBain-Daniil But Brandon Tanev-Alexander Kerfoot-Liam O’Brien Mikhail Sergachev-Sean Durzi Nate Schmidt-John Marino Ian Cole-Nick DeSimone Karel Vejmelka will start in goal; Vitek Vanecek will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Olli Maatta and Kailer Yamamoto. Logan Cooley (lower body) is out; Kevin Stenlund (illness) is questionable. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/a041a41b-5ff4-4ac9-9ad9-1788fe88cc5b.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
