ST.
LOUIS – Robert Thomas is back, and for the St. Louis Blues, the
timing couldn’t be better.
Their
No. 1 center returns on Monday when the Blues (3-7-2) try and end a
seven-game winless skid (0-5-2) when they face Connor McDavid, Leon
Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers (6-4-3) at 7:30 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN
101.1-FM).
Thomas
has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury sustained in
a collision with Alex DeBrincat of the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 25,
and the team has gone 0-3-1 in his absence.
“I
didn’t have (Monday) circled but just taking it day by day,”
Thomas said. “Started to take big steps the last couple days and
figured it would be a possibility so happy it kind of came into
fruition.”
Thomas
was on the ice Sunday for an optional practice and was also on the
ice Saturday when the Blues were taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets
and gave coach Jim Montgomery the green light after Sunday’s
practice.
“He
did yesterday after he skated,” Montgomery said. “We got our No.
1 center back, so that’s a big boost. Everyone gets deployed
appropriately with the minutes, especially matchups as well,
especially when you’re at home.”
Thomas,
who has a goal and five assists in eight games this season, feels
like he can jump back in as the team is building in what they feel is
the right direction the past two games.
“The
guys have been building the game and building our team game,”
Thomas said. “We’ve seen big improvements last couple of games.
Hopefully we can continue that and get a big win here tonight. It
always sucks (to sit out) … there’s no other way to put it. You
don’t feel like you’re in the action with the guys and you’re
kind of just out on your own. It really sucks.
“D-zone’s
been a lot better in a couple areas, tracking sort of off the rush,
coming back defending. Those areas have improved a lot. Once you kind
of get that down, then you can get back to our strengths. Our
strengths are puck-possession, our strengths are using our speed,
being creative offensively and once you kind of have that base and I
feel like the guys have built that base, the rest kind of comes into
play.
“Any
time you have two of the best players in the world coming in (McDavid
and Draisaitl), you’ve got to be sharp and be ready to go. I think
everyone in this room is ready for that challenge. It would be a
great way to get a win.”
With
Thomas coming into the lineup, it will make Nathan Walker a healthy
scratch for the first time this season and move Brayden Schenn to the
wing, and Dalibor Dvorsky in the lineup.
It
gets Schenn on the wing and in more of a checking mind.
“Maybe
a little bit for sure. As a winger you’re able to get in on the
forecheck more I would say as F1 or F2,” Schenn said. “For me,
trying to stall some pucks that way. It’s funny. It’s one of
these years where I haven’t been that bad defensively and all of
the sudden, it looks otherwise (minus-13), right? It’s one of those
things where maybe this gives me a chance to reset, play some wing,
play with two great players and build my game back up. I just feel
like I’ve got a whole lot better and obviously we can all say that
when we’ve lost seven in a row.”
As
for Dvorsky, Montgomery is deploying the 2023 first-round pick on the
flank opposite Jimmy Snuggerud on the team’s top power play unit,
two shooters that won’t hesitate to unload.
“Not
only not hesitate, but they’re making plays,” Montgomery said.
“Both of them have made a lot of plays. Dvorsky’s had a lot of
chances in his two games so far and if he keeps playing like that,
it’s going to go into the net because he rips it really well.”
–
– –
With
the Oilers coming into town, the Blues feel they can trend where they
want to go if they build off Saturday’s last stretch of the third
period.
“I
just liked how we worked for offense last game,” Montgomery said.
“We took what the other team was giving us. We were playing a 1-1-3
team; we’re not playing that tonight, but they’re three stacked
up against the blue line, holding the blue line. You’ve got to play
in behind them, you’ve got to go to work on playing behind, which
usually means a forecheck. Usually you’re going to have speed
against a 1-1-3 if you play it right, and we did that in the third.
We ended up with not only more possession time, but we ended up with
a lot of second- and third-chance opportunities and two deflections
that hit the goalie. If we keep on playing that way, those
deflections will go in.”
–
– –
Blues
Projected Lineup:
Pavel
Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Brayden
Schenn-Pius Suter-Jordan Kyrou
Dylan
Holloway-Dalibor Dvorsky-Oskar Sundqvist
Alexey
Toropchenko-Nick Bjugstad-Mathieu Joseph
Philip
Broberg-Colton Parayko
Cam
Fowler-Justin Faulk
Tyler
Tucker-Matthew Kessel
Jordan
Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Nathan Walker, Alexandre Texier and Logan Mailloux. Jake Neighbours (leg) is out.
–
– –
Oilers
Projected Lineup:
Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins-Connor McDavid-Andrew Mangiapane
Vasily
Podkolzin-Leon Draisaitl-Jack Roslovic
Matthew
Savoie-Adam Henrique-Trent Frederic
Isaac
Howard-Noah Philp-Curtis Lazar
Mattias
Ekholm-Evan Bouchard
Darnell
Nurse-Jake Walman
Brett
Kulak-Ty Emberson
Calvin
Pickard will start in goal; Stuart Skinner will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Troy Stecher and David Tomasek. Zach Hyman (wrist),
Mattias Janmark (undisclosed), Kasperi Kapanen (knee) and Alec Regula
(undisclosed) are out.
Blues Make Minor Trade, Acquire Familiar Veteran Defenseman
Team re-acquires Calle Rosen for Corey Schueneman
Former Blues First Round Pick Returns To KHL
After 190 NHL games, former St. Louis Blues 2017 first-round pick Klim Kostin will return to the KHL.
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