ST. LOUIS – When the old adage pops up that “it’s only preseason” is something that’s discussed, there’s some truth to that.
But when the St. Louis Blues (0-3-1) haven’t won one of their preseason games as of get and host the Ottawa Senators (2-2-0) (7 p.m.; stlblues.com, Blues app, ESPN 101.1-FM) in their final home preseason game Thursday and the regular season starting in one week, it’s time to start paying attention to results.
And Blues coach Jim Montgomery is.
“I can’t say the result matters as much as it will a week from today, but it matters because I think if you’re naturally competitive, you want to win,” Montgomery said. “I don’t care if it’s an exhibition game. Having talk to other coaches around the league, you always feel better about your team when you win. I didn’t feel good about our team the last two games, and we lost. If we win those games, do I feel as we’re not ready enough, those things go through your head as a coach. As a competitor, you want to win hockey games, and we’re playing our lineup. There’s going to maybe be three or four guys that you could say maybe they’re not going to be in the lineup next Thursday night, I don’t know, that’s up to them to decide that with their play, and even more reason why we should be playing to win.”
Montgomery was asked if the results, even preseason, have been discussed.
“Yeah, it has,” he said. “I made that point this morning. You look around the games last night, Vegas played their real lineup, Colorado brought a real lineup on the road, Vegas won at home. Calgary dressed a real lineup from what I can tell when I watched the highlights and they lost 8-1 (to the Vancouver Canucks). Both teams are feeling very different about where they’re at in their readiness for the regular season, and after tonight, we should all want to feel good about how ready we are to start the year.”
The Blues have lost their past two games, 4-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks last Saturday and most recently, 5-3 against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, and have a similar feel to each.
“We haven’t played for 60 minutes,” Montgomery said. “There’s been about 35 minutes of good hockey. The third periods, both games, the last game against Dallas, the first 10 minutes were blah, the last 10 minutes were pretty good. But when you’re down 4-2, it’s a little natural that you get a little juice and the other team is just trying to protect the lead. But the other game when we’re up 2-0, I don’t know if we had a scoring chance in the third period. That’s not Blues hockey.”
That’s why tonight’s lineup, probably 90-95 percent of what it will look like Oct. 9 against the Minnesota Wild, needs to show a good result.
“That was a good practice (Wednesday), pucks were more tape-to-tape, more cohesive,” Blues forward Nick Bjugstad said. “The beginning of preseason is trying to find your bearings and see who’s ready to play, but I think once everyone’s together, the pace changes, the execution tends to be very good.”
Look for Jordan Binnington, like Joel Hofer on Tuesday, to play the entire game on Thursday.
The only regulars not in the lineup tonight are forwards Jake Neighbours and Alexey Toropchenko, each nursing some soreness from Tuesday, but they did skate with the extras after the game group on Thursday.
The Blues are one of two teams without a preseason win. The Utah Mammoth (0-4-1) are the other.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Pavel Buchevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway-Pius Suter-Jordan Kyrou
Mathieu Joseph-Brayden Schenn-Nick Bjugstad
Milan Lucic-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker-Logan Lailloux
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Colten Ellis will be the backup.
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Senators Projected Lineup:
Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Fabian Zetterlund
Ridly Greig-Stephen Halliday-Olle Lycksell
Keean Washkurak-Oskar Pettersson-Zack MacEwen
Arthur Kaliyev-Jan Jenik-Tyler Boucher
Lassi Thomson-Carter Yakemchuk
Jorian Donovan-Nikolas Matinpalo
Donovan Sebrango-Jordan Spence
Leevi Merilainen will start in goal; Mads Sogaard will be the backup.