How do the St. Louis Blues recover?
That has to be the looming question as the Blues (20-27-9) conclude their pre-Olympic schedule and latter end of their dad's/mentor's trip when face the Dallas Stars (33-14-9) with a puck drop at 8:52 p.m. on TNT.
The Blues, who have lost nine straight away from Enterprise Center and have been outscored 42-17, are coming off a shocking 6-5 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday, a game in which they led 5-1 less that four minutes into the second period in a game they had complete control in.
Instead, it was their second loss this season -- and in franchise history -- that the Blues lost a game in which they led by four goals in (also on Oct. 25 against the Detroit Red Wings, led 4-0 before falling 6-4).
A silver lining to come out of the game at Nashville was the line featuring Pavel Buchnevich between Jake Neighbours and Jordan Kyrou. Each contributed three points (Buchnevich two goals, one assist; Neighbours one goal, two assists and Kyrou three assists) and it's been a line that's gained traction since Blues coach Jim Montgomery assembled them together.
In the last six games, Buchnevich has eight points (three goals, five assists); in the past 11 games, Kyrou has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) and Neighbours has four points (two goals, two assists) and is a plus-3 the pat two games.
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It'll be the third time in 13 days these Central Division foes will meet and fourth time this season. After the Blues took the opener 3-1 in one of their most complete games of the season on Oct. 18, the Stars took each of the last two matchups, 3-2 on Jan. 23 when Jason Robertson scored the game-winner with 1:00 remaining in regulation, and again, 4-3 on Jan. 27 when Thomas Harley's goal with 1:07 to play was the difference.
The lineup changes the team announced for Wednesday are that there will be game time decisions and that the club could use 11 forwards and seven defensemen, so pregame warmups will determine who's in and who's out. But Jordan Binnington will make the start, the 10th straight game he and Joel Hofer will have alternated starts.
So the best guess at a lineup below:
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Brayden Schenn-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou
Jonatan Berggren-Pius Suter-Nick Bjugstad
Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko
Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk
Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Robby Fabbri, Mathieu Joseph and Matthew Kessel. Robert Thomas (lower body) and Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain) are out.
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Stars Projected Lineup:
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Mavrik Bourque
Justin Hryckowian-Wyatt Johnston-Mikko Rantanen
Sam Steel-Matt Duchene-Jamie Benn
Oskar Back-Radek Faksa-Adam Erne
Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley-Nils Lundkvist
Kyle Capobianco-Ilya Lyubushkin
Jake Oettinger will start in goal; Casey DeSmith will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nathan Bastian, Colin Blackwell and Alexander Petrovic. Tyler Seguin (ACL) and Lian Bichsel (lower body) are out.
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