Alexey Toropchenko (13) and the St. Louis Blues will look to tie a franchise record with their 11th straight win against Tristan Jarry (35) and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. (Jeff Le-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/7fd435cd-d76f-4c3f-9132-2a5a3429e30c.jpeg] Alexey Toropchenko (13) and the St. Louis Blues will look to tie a franchise record with their 11th straight win against Tristan Jarry (35) and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. (Jeff Le-Imagn Images) ST. LOUIS – When the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis] go for a franchise-tying 11-game winning streak on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins [http://thn.com/pittsburgh] (7 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), they’ll have to do so against the team that last was able to give them an ‘L.’ The Blues (41-28-7) haven’t lost in three weeks to the day, and that last loss on March 13 was against these very same Penguins (30-34-11), by a 5-3 count. Things have drastically changed for the Blues, who are tied with the Minnesota Wild [http://thn.com/minnesota] with identical records and points, with the Wild holding the tie-breaker based on regulation wins (33-30). But needless to say, the Blues have more than sharpened up since the last time they played the Penguins. “I didn’t think we were hard enough offensively, we didn’t screen their goalie,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “They did a good job boxing us out. We’ve got to be harder offensively tonight in order to have success. That’s the biggest takeaway.” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who knows a thing or two about taking a team over in mid-season, feels the Blues are a team that’s humming and credits Montgomery for the turnaround. “He’s done a good job,” Sullivan said. “Obviously they’ve gone on a pretty good run here over the last month-plus. They’re 10-0 in their last 10. I don’t think they’ve lost since the last time we played them. That’s a pretty good run. Monty’s a good coach. He’s done a good job with these guys.” - - - The Blues are not changing their lineup from Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime win [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-2-1-ot-win-against-red-wings] against the Detroit Red Wings [http://thn.com/detroit], including playing 2022 first-round pick (No. 23) Jimmy Snuggerud in his second NHL game. “He impressed me live,” Montgomery said. “It’s just his ability to see the ice really well, made really good decisions and he battled hard. “I think he’s played real well, looks comfortable. It’s been an easy adjustment to be honest.” One change to the roster is the Blues assigning 2023 first-rounder and No. 10 pick Dalibor Dvorsky to Springfield of the American Hockey League after the 19-year-old played in his NHL debut on March 23 against the Nashville Predators [http://thn.com/nashville] but has been a healthy scratch in each of the past four games. “When you’re 19 years old, you need to play games,” Montgomery said. “Right now with our team’s playing so well, I didn’t see the opportunity coming.” - - - Blues Projected Lineup: Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou Zack Bolduc-Oskar Sundqvist-Jimmy Snuggerud Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker Cam Fowler-Nick Leddy Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Matthew Kessel, Alexandre Texier and Mathieu Joseph. Colton Parayko (knee) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season. - - - Penguins Projected Lineup: Rutger McGroarty-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust Connor Dewar-Rickard Rakell-Ville Koivunen Kevin Hayes-Noel Acciari-Philip Tomasino Danton Heinen-Blake Lizotte-Joona Koppanen Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang Conor Timmins-Erik Karlsson Ryan Graves-Vladislav Kolyachonok Tristan Jarry will start in goal; Alex Nedeljkovic will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Ryan Shea and Emil Bemstrom. Evgeni Malkin (upper body), P.O Joseph (upper body) and Tommy Novak (lower body) are out.
