ST.
LOUIS – Hunter
Skinner was all smiles, and why not?
The
defenseman will make his NHL debut for the St. Louis Blues (6-8-3) on
Friday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers (8-5-3) at 7 p.m.
(FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The
24-year-old, who will have his parents Steve and Michele as well as a
brother and sister in attendance for the game, was acquired from the
New York Rangers on Feb. 9, 2023 in the deal that sent Vladimir
Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to Broadway.
“Since
I was a little kid,” Skinner
said.
“It’s a dream-come-true. I’m super-excited for tonight. Took
last night and this morning to prepare for it, but I’m
super-excited about it.”
Skinner
will play on the third defensive pairing with Matthew Kessel.
“If
this is not the greatest day in his life, it’s in his top three,”
Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Everybody remembers their first
game, you dream of it. There’s nothing like your first game in the
NHL. Bright lights, big city. St. Louis Blues against the
Philadelphia Flyers, legendary teams. It’s awesome that you get to
have that experience. But he’s someone that over time can be a
Blue.
“I
got to know him in training camp really for the first time and he has
energy, loves playing hockey. You can tell it pours through his
pores. … What we’re wanting to see is he has poise with the puck,
but he’s hard too. He plays the game with physicality and emotion,
which our team can use.”
Skinner
has toiled with Springfield of the American Hockey League since his
arrival to the Blues organization, playing in 147 games before
finally getting the chance to perform on the big stage. It never
deterred him from continuing to put the work in.
“No,
not really,” he
said.
“Just trust in the process, just the path that I’m on. God put me
here for a reason.
“Just
putting the work on, trying to be as consistent as possible, keep my
head down, grinding every day, not worrying about the future, just
going day by day.”
Skinner
said he found out, “(Wednesday)
at practice, I kind of got a little nod and mostly this morning. Once
I walked in and I saw the board, I was super-excited.”
Having
his family here will be important.
“Parents,
brother, sister, grandparents have passed away so they’re not here,
but I’ll be playing for my grandma for sure and my grandpa,”
Skinner
said.
“I haven’t really talked to (his
parents)
over the phone yet. I just shot them a text. I’m pretty sure
they’re ecstatic, as ecstatic as I am.”
Skinner
impressed the coaches during his run in training camp and wants to
keep that momentum going.
“I
felt good. I felt like I put my best foot forward. Hopefully it led
to me getting to this point. I’m just excited about it.
“Playing
simple, just be physical, hard to play against, tight gaps, getting
my shot through. I think using my feet.
I
played with (Kessel) and I played with ‘Tucks’ quite a few times.
I’m pretty excited. Two Michigan boys.”
–
– –
Skinner
will replace Tyler Tucker, who along with Nick Bjugstad will be
healthy scratches for the first time this season.
“It
is a reset, yeah,” Montgomery said of Tucker. “I’m seeing him
give up more time and space than he did last year. Last year it was
consistent that he didn’t give it up, this year it’s been
inconsistent. We had a good talk about it. I know when he gets back
in, he’s going to be the aggressive, physical … even in the
offensive zone, he’s not as aggressive as he was last year.”
Bjugstad
will sit for Mathieu Joseph, who returns after missing Tuesday’s
3-2 win against the Calgary Flames with a lower-body injury.
“Defensively
I think he’s done a lot of good things even in the last 2-3 games,”
Montgomery said of Bjugstad, who has four goals and one assist in 17
games. “He’s just not having the same impact he was having. I
don’t mean scoring, I mean building the team game, building
momentum for our team. A lot of times when we talk about a good
shift, it’s what you leave for the next guys going on the ice, it’s
not what you actually did. You can have a great shift, two scoring
chances and then you play five seconds in your D-zone and you have a
bad change, I’m not leaving good ice. That’s how you want to try
and build, good changes, good rhythm for the game.”
–
– –
The
Blues are 3-1-1 the past five games and after Friday, host the Vegas
Golden Knights on Saturday before heading out on a big five-game road
trip starting Tuesday.
“There’s
signs, but we’ve got to see consistency coming out the right way,”
Montgomery said. “I liked the way we came out and started the game
last game. We didn’t put them on their heels, but we played
intelligently.”
– – –
Blues forward Jake Neighbours was on the ice for the morning skate, his first time with the team since blocking a shot Oct. 25 against the Detroit Red Wings.
Neighbours, who leads the Blues with six goals, started skating this past Sunday on his own and is still on target to be reevaluated in the five-week timeframe the team gave.
–
– –
Blues
Projected
Lineup:
Pavel
Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan
Holloway-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Brayden
Schenn-Pius Suter-Mathieu Joseph
Alexey
Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Philip
Broberg-Colton
Parayko
Cam
Fowler-Justin Faulk
Matthew
Kessel-Hunter
Skinner
Jordan
Binnington will
start in goal; Joel Hofer
will
be the backup.
Healthy
scratches
include Nick
Bjugstad, Alexandre Texier and
Tyler Tucker.
Jake
Neighbours (leg) is
out.
–
– –
Flyers
Projected
Lineup:
Matvei
Michkov-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Owen
Tippett-Christian Dvorak-Trevor Zegras
Tyson
Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink
Garnet
Hathaway-Rodrigo Abols-Nicolas
Deslauriers
Cam
York-Travis Sanheim
Nick
Seeler-Jamie Drysdale
Emil
Andrae-Noah Juulsen
Samuel
Ersson will start in goal; Dan
Vladar will be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Nikita Grebenkin,
Adam Ginning and
Egor
Zamula. Rasmus Ristolainen (triceps) is
out.
Blues Top Four Defensemen Logging Big Minutes, Especially Of Late; Are They Getting Taxed Too Soon?
Parayko, Broberg, Faulk, Fowler all over at least 22 minutes a night, more so in past half dozen games; Blues will need more from likes of Tucker, Kessel, Mailloux on bottom pair as season rolls along to keep others from getting worn down
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