One player will return from injury while two are out for the St. Louis Blues as they prepare for Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins (6 p.m. CT, FanDuel Sports Network, 101 ESPN).
Alexey Toropchenko will re-enter the lineup after missing seven games. He has played only one game so far – opening night against Minnesota – due to injury. He is expected to reunite on the fourth line with Nick Bjugstad and Nathan Walker.
“Torps is one of those guys, I think he drew most of our penalties last year, so that’s going to help,” said Head Coach Jim Montgomery on what the forward brings to the team. “But his speed, his tenacity on pucks. He has a great defensive stick. Another top-end penalty killer to add to our lineup.”
It wasn’t all good injury news for the Blues, though. Forwards Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas will both miss Monday’s game and are considered day-to-day with injuries.
Montgomery shuffled his forward lines to account for their absences, elevating Pius Suter to the top center slot with Pavel Buchnevich and Jimmy Snuggerud on his wings. Toropchenko and Alexandre Texier will both re-enter the lineup to round out the forward corps against Pittsburgh.
“We’re missing two of our top nine forwards, so it impacts our depth of scoring,” Montgomery said on the loss of Neighbours and Thomas. “But the mentality of our team’s going to be the same: we’re going to check our [butts] off.”
The below projected lineup is based on Monday’s morning skate at PPG Paints Arena.
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