How do the St. Louis Blues recover from that gut punch they took on Monday?
Nothing they can do but get right back on the horse, and after taking a direct kick to the gut when they allowed a game-winning goal with 22 seconds left in a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Blues (31-31-11) have no choice but to pick themselves up when they play an almost certain must-win game against the Los Angeles Kings 29-26-18) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in the race for the final wild card out of the Western Conference.
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The task is daunting for the Blues, who are only four points behind the Nashville Predators with a game in hand, but the bigger issue is not only do they have to climb over the Predators but they also have to pass the Kings, who are one point back of the Predators and host Nashville on Thursday; they also have to pass the Winnipeg Jets, who are also one point back of Nashville, and the Sharks and Seattle Kraken, each two points back.
Having to pass five teams makes it almost a certainty that the only way for that to happen, and with the teams in front of them having head-to-head matchups, the Blues almost certainly need to someone win out their remaining nine games, or come awfully close to doing that, in order to have a chance.
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Blues coach Jim Montgomery will not tinker with the lineup for Wednesday, other than starting Jordan Binnington in goal.
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“The lineup is the same. I’ve talked to the five guys that haven’t played (lately),” Montgomery said to the media in Los Angeles of Oskar Sundqvist, Jonathan Drouin, Nathan Walker, Tyler Tucker and Matthew Kessel. “(I told them) keep being great teammates. They’re working hard, they’re staying in shape, they have to for when we call upon them. You know we’re going to call upon them sooner or later. If we don’t have success again tonight, there are going to be changes.”
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Dylan Holloway-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou
Otto Stenberg-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropchenko-Jack Finley-Pius Suter
Philip Broberg-Logan Mailloux
Theo Lindstein-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Justin Holl
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
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Healthy scratches include Jonathan Drouin, Oskar Sundqvist, Nathan Walker and Matthew Kessel. Tyler Tucker (lower body) is on the road trip and is close to being an option for selection.
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Kings Projected Lineup:
Artemi Panarin-Anze Kopitar-Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore-Quinton Byfield-Alex Laferriere
Mathieu Joseph-Scott Laughton-Joel Armia
Jeff Malott-Samuel Helenius-Jared Wright
Mikey Anderson-Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson-Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin-Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper will start in goal; Anton Forsberg will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Alex Turcotte, Jacob Moverare and Taylor Ward. Andrei Kuzmenko (meniscus) is out.
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