ST. LOUIS -- Not only will Pavel Buchnevich move back to the wing at least for one game [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/blues-moving-forward-back-to-familiar-position-for-now], but the St. Louis Blues (7-7-0) will shuffle around a number of players for their matchup against the Washington Capitals (9-4-0) for the fourth of a five-game homestand today at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM). Kasperi Kapanen, who has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury, will be back in the lineup and replace Zack Bolduc. * NOTE -- Bolduc was a pregame addition for Alexandre Texier. Ovechkin comes to town with 861 career goals; Buchnevich back to wing; Kapanen replaces Bolduc; Joseph on first fight "There's some real good things to his game that weren't part of his game," Blues coach Drew Bannister said of Bolduc, who will be a healthy scratch for the first time in seven games. "His physicality and stuff. His attention to detail on the defensive side. I think that's kind of slipped for us. Offensively, those are his instincts, the strengths in his game and working into areas where he can get chances. That's an area that he has to focus on to give himself and build his confidence too. When you're a young player, you want to score, you're a scorer, you want to contribute. He works hard, he's a good kid, he wants to get better, he wants to do the right thing and right now, I think he's struggling at both ends to kind of put it together." Also, Brandon Saad will slide down the lineup and play with Oskar Sundqvist and Kapanen. "I think with like our whole team, whether it's over the last little while or last game, we're inconsistent," Bannister said. "As a group, we have to be more consistent. It's not just one individual player, it's a group. We have to be more consistent with how start games, how we finish the end of the period from the first to the second to the third and managing the hockey game." --- One line that will remain consistent is the 'WTF' line of Radek Faksa, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker, where consistency ever seems to be an issue. "That's the one line that you can depend on and they play consistent and they play to our identity," Bannister said. "They play to their identity where they understand what they need to do to have success and pushing the bill for us and they've certainly been a line that's been doing that over the last few games." --- Also, another consistent is Dylan Holloway, who will slide back into the middle and center Jake Neighbours and Alexandre Texier. "I think Dylan, the way he plays the game, he's just going to have success," Bannister said. "A constant worker on our team. You never have to wonder if Dylan's going to come to work. He's constantly working and then good things happen after that. So whether he's playing wing or center, good things happen because he's working for opportunities for himself or his teammates. He's able to set them up." --- The Blues will once again try to make their power play go by moving personnel around and into different spots on the ice. "Right now, it's not working," Bannister said. "We can't stick with the same thing. Whether it's our net front or flankers or our guys up top, it looked like we're searching for answers and trying to find combinations in the right spot for right now with the players that we have to have success." The Blues are 31st in the league at 11.8 percent on the season (4-for-34), including 0-for-12 since Oct. 29, but they are facing the one team worse than then, the Capitals, who are 32nd at 8.7 percent (4-for-46). --- Thursday was P.O. Joseph's first fight in the NHL when he dropped the gloves against Utah Hockey Club's Maveric Lamoureux Thursday. Joseph immediately jumped in when Lamoureux came in and kneed Toropchenko, sending the Blues forward down to the ice. He would be OK, but Joseph immediately jumped to the defense of his teammate. "I didn't think about anything else and wanted to protect 'Torpo,'" Joseph said. "In moments like that, you've just got to step up for each other. I'm sure he would have done the same thing for me. I think that just shows the chemistry in the room. Everyone has instincts and I think mine just kicked in at this moment." Joseph gave himself a decent fight card score. "Not bad," he said laughing. "I'm just happy nothing happened injury-wise and that he's fine too. I never thought I was fighting in my life, but here I am jumping in.I had to protect my guy." Joseph received a major for fighting, a minor for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct. "It was a long time in the penalty box," Joseph said. "I had time to talk about a lot of things with people there. I was talking to the ref, didn't really know the rules about fighting and stuff like that. I would do it all over again today if I had to." Perhaps he may think twice since he had to answer to his mother about it. "The second my brother [Mathieu Joseph] sent a video to my mom, she kind of asked a couple questions and I kind of didn't answer then," P.O. said. "They're down on vacation right now so she was a little (upset) about it, but it's part of hockey. She knows that things are going to happen. I think she was happy I stepped up for one of my teammates." --- As for Mathieu Joseph, he is getting closer to returning from a lower-body injury after skating again in a very limited optional on Saturday but will miss his fifth straight game. "I would consider him closer to day to day now," Bannister said. "Yesterday, today, he had another good skate. He'll skate on our day off tomorrow, he'll skate with us on Monday, hopefully full contact and then we'll go from there, but I think he's getting very close to being a player for us." --- Blues projected lineup: Pavel Buchnevich-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou Brandon Saad-Dylan Holloway-Jake Neighbours Zack Bolduc-Oskar Sundqvist-Kasperi Kapanen Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Justin Faulk Scott Perunovich-Matthew Kessel Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup. The Blues have no healthy scratches. Robert Thomas (ankle), Nick Leddy (lower body), Philip Broberg (knee) and Mathieu Joseph (lower body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season. --- Capitals projected lineup: Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson Andrew Mangiapane-Hendrix Lapierre-Jakub Vrana Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh Martin Fehervary-John Carlson Rasmus Sandin-Matt Roy Alexander Alexeyev-Trevor van Riemsdyk Logan Thompson is projected to start in goal; Charlie Lindgren would be the backup. The healthy scratch could be Dylan McIlrath. Jakob Chychrun (upper body) is questionable; Sonny Milano (upper body) is out. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjcwNjk1MDQ0MDY0NDYy/subscribe2024-front-banner.jpg]
