nhl.com wrote:Projected Lineup: Nov. 14 vs. Tampa Bay

Following an 8-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday that included two hat tricks - one from Brayden Schenn and another from Pavel Buchnevich - no lineup changes appear to be needed for Tuesday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m., Bally Sports, 101 ESPN).

Blues Head Coach Craig Berube held an optional practice on Tuesday but is expected to keep everything the same.

“I think overall, we’re getting good work from all the lines, what their job is and what they’re doing,” Berube said. “(Oskar Sundqvist), (Sammy Blais), and (Jake) Neighbours have been a real good identity line in my opinion. They’ve scored some goals for us, obviously Sunny on the penalty kill has done a good job - that line has been a real good identity line, a forecheck line, a heavy line and they’re playing to that identity.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with what (our lines have) done from a checking standpoint to a production standpoint.”

Below is a projected lineup based on Monday’s team practice at Centene Community Ice Center.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Forwards
Pavel Buchnevich - Robert Thomas - Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Saad - Brayden Schenn - Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko - Kevin Hayes - Jakub Vrana
Sammy Blais - Oskar Sundqvist - Jake Neighbours

Defense
Nick Leddy - Colton Parayko
Torey Krug - Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella - Scott Perunovich

Goalie
Jordan Binnington

nhl.com wrote:Preview: Blues vs. Lightning
When: Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. CT
Where: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO
Watch: Bally Sports, Bally Sports app
Listen: 101 ESPN, Blues App

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

BLUES: The St. Louis Blues undoubtedly played their best game of the young season Saturday night in Colorado. Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich became the third duo in Blues history to score hat tricks in the same game, paving the way for an 8-2 rout of the division-rival Avalanche.

In addition to the seven points provided by Schenn and Buchnevich, Jordan Binnington made 36 saves on 38 shots and Robert Thomas dished four assists as Craig Berube celebrated his 200th win behind the Blues bench.

"It's a big game for our club, confidence-wise," said Jordan Binnington. "You could see things were connected for the guys tonight... It's really good to see - we've been working hard, we've been working on our foundation."

Special teams was another major standout in Saturday's win, with the Blues scoring two much-needed power-play goals, two shorthanded goals and blanking the Avs 0-for-3 on the other end as they put the game out of reach.

Building from the big win after a 3-1-0 homestand, the Blues have now won four of their last five games behind an active offense and stifling defense. Since Nov. 3, the Blues' 22 goals share the NHL lead and their 2.40 goals against per game ranks seventh.

The Blues return home for a one-game stay against the veteran Tampa Bay Lightning before heading out on a West Coast road trip. Beginning Thursday in San Jose, the Blues will meet the Sharks, Kings, Ducks and Coyotes.

They'll host the Bolts with a record of 7-5-1, worth 15 points and fourth in the Central Division.

LIGHTNING: After their loss in the First Round of the postseason last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning are still looking to break through out of the gate this year. Though their start places them fifth in a tight Atlantic Division, the Bolts have an NHL-high four overtime losses. If those four overtime losses - three of which came in divisional games - had gone the Lightning's way, they would be looking at second place.

Tampa Bay is looking to bounce back from two straight home losses, falling 5-3 to Chicago as Connor Bedard posted four points and taking a 4-0 shutout to Carolina on Saturday night.

Though team point leader Nikita Kucherov missed Saturday's game with an illness, he skated at practice on Monday and is expected to rejoin the lineup.

Behind Kucherov's regular contributions remain longtime Bolts Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos. In goal, the Lightning have turned to Jonas Johansson after Andrei Vasilevskiy's preseason surgery. On Sept. 28, it was announced that the two-time Stanley Cup Champion goaltender would be expected to miss the first two months of the regular season.

After visiting the Blues, Tampa Bay heads to Chicago for a quick rematch with the Blackhawks.

The Lightning head to Enterprise Center with a record of 6-5-4, worth 16 points and fifth place In the Atlantic Division.

HEAD TO HEAD: The Blues fell in both games against Tampa Bay last season, but are 5-3-0 in their last eight matchups and 3-1-0 in the last four at Enterprise Center. The Blues are an undefeated 3-0-0 against Eastern Conference teams this season, though will play their next seven against the West following Tuesday's game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

BLUES: Pavel Buchnevich, whose historic special teams display paved the way for his third career hat trick on Saturday. Buchnevich's special-teams hat trick was the fifth in franchise history and was also the first multi-shorthanded goal game by a Blue since February 2000.

LIGHTNING: Nikita Kucherov, leading the Bolts and sharing third in the NHL as of Monday afternoon with 23 points in 14 games. The 30-year-old forward has 13 points in 14 career games against St. Louis, including four last season.

BLUE NOTES

• The Blues' 8-2 win over Colorado was their first eight-goal performance since April 17, 2022 when they beat the Predators 8-3 in Nashville
• The win was the fifth time in franchise history that the Blues scored at least two power play goals and shorthanded goals - last coming on Nov. 6, 2019 in Edmonton
• Before Pavel Buchnevich, the last Blue to record a special-teams hat trick was Scott Mellanby on March 6, 2003 with four power-play goals
• Brayden Schenn's eight points in his last four games shares third in the NHL, and his five goals in that span share the League lead.
• Robert Thomas extended his point streak to six games on Saturday, capped off by the second four-assist night of his career. He became the eighth player in franchise history to record multiple four-assist games
• Craig Berube's 200th win as Blues Head Coach makes him the third in franchise history to reach the milestone, only trailing Joel Quenneville and Ken Hitchcok on the all-time coaching wins leaderboard
• Among goaltenders to appear in at least five games this season (53 total), Jordan Binnington’s 2.52 GAA shares 14th while his .923 SV% shares 10th in the NHL

T.C. wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 1:03 pm i just found out i'm going to this game (will be in 308), so i anticipate heavy drinking. i'll see what i can do to bring home a win.

T.C. wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 1:03 pmi just found out i'm going to this game (will be in 308), so i anticipate heavy drubbing. i'll see what i can do to bring home a win.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:19 pm Also credit where it’s due, Faulk and Krug have become the Blues top pairing and I don’t think it’s close.

RAFritchey wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:33 pm

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:19 pm Also credit where it’s due, Faulk and Krug have become the Blues top pairing and I don’t think it’s close.

Parayko hasn't been bad, either. Still not as physical as I'd like, but good overall.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:35 pm Brilliant feed by Krug, Brilliant finish by Kyrou

T.C. wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 8:08 am Yes, the game was a blast. First game of the season for me, and it was this one. On paper, it shouldn’t have turned out this way, but I’ll take it.

TBL did have some chances, but in the room it felt like the Blues were on top of everything and really dictating the play. There wasn’t that usual let-up where you felt like TBL would get back in the game. The Blues weren’t punishing them by any means in a cocky way, just felt like they were absolutely in confident control of this game for 60 minutes.

Also, me and my buddy were talking about how there are no real hits anymore and how sad it is. There are things that the stats people call hits, sure, but if there was more than one in the entire game last night, they’re lying. At least, today’s “hits” are nothing like what I would call a hit, and nothing like I’d love to see more of. Seems like we used to get 4-5 “GodDAMN!”-level hits per game. Now if there’s what, 2-3 per season people get excited? Yes, the game is faster, but there were plenty of hit opportunities both teams passed up last night. Again, just sad.

That pass to Vrana was insane. In the building it looked even faster than you see on that clip. Like, to the point I have no idea how Vrana handled it. Krug passed it to him like he was pissed at Vrana.

Seeing Kyrou get that goal was nice. Didn’t know he had been on the shneid, he definitely didn’t look it. I noticed him way deep in the defensive zone quite a bit as well. He definitely skates 200’ when he didn’t used to skate 20’, so that’s something. Still needs to be a bit stronger, but he’s clearly learning the game and respecting the system, which is good for us.

Binner was on point (obviously). Like I said, TBL did have their chances, but he answered. Weren’t many where I felt like he got lucky, either. He was reading the plays and going to where the puck was going to be, not just happening to find himself in the way of it. You could see him with a tractor beam on that puck.

Don’t know what else I can say. TBL looks done. When I saw that it wasn’t Vasy in goal, I was really bummed. I’d like to see him once in his prime. The goalie they did have, can’t put this all on him. He didn’t have a chance on a few of those. This team just looked like a collection of guys doing their own things. Maybe an off night for them, but they need some team building exercises or something. Spending too long being too good can wear on you, I guess?

T.C. wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 8:08 am Yes, the game was a blast. First game of the season for me, and it was this one. On paper, it shouldn’t have turned out this way, but I’ll take it.

TBL did have some chances, but in the room it felt like the Blues were on top of everything and really dictating the play. There wasn’t that usual let-up where you felt like TBL would get back in the game. The Blues weren’t punishing them by any means in a cocky way, just felt like they were absolutely in confident control of this game for 60 minutes.

Also, me and my buddy were talking about how there are no real hits anymore and how sad it is. There are things that the stats people call hits, sure, but if there was more than one in the entire game last night, they’re lying. At least, today’s “hits” are nothing like what I would call a hit, and nothing like I’d love to see more of. Seems like we used to get 4-5 “GodDAMN!”-level hits per game. Now if there’s what, 2-3 per season people get excited? Yes, the game is faster, but there were plenty of hit opportunities both teams passed up last night. Again, just sad.

That pass to Vrana was insane. In the building it looked even faster than you see on that clip. Like, to the point I have no idea how Vrana handled it. Krug passed it to him like he was pissed at Vrana.

Seeing Kyrou get that goal was nice. Didn’t know he had been on the shneid, he definitely didn’t look it. I noticed him way deep in the defensive zone quite a bit as well. He definitely skates 200’ when he didn’t used to skate 20’, so that’s something. Still needs to be a bit stronger, but he’s clearly learning the game and respecting the system, which is good for us.

Binner was on point (obviously). Like I said, TBL did have their chances, but he answered. Weren’t many where I felt like he got lucky, either. He was reading the plays and going to where the puck was going to be, not just happening to find himself in the way of it. You could see him with a tractor beam on that puck.

Don’t know what else I can say. TBL looks done. When I saw that it wasn’t Vasy in goal, I was really bummed. I’d like to see him once in his prime. The goalie they did have, can’t put this all on him. He didn’t have a chance on a few of those. This team just looked like a collection of guys doing their own things. Maybe an off night for them, but they need some team building exercises or something. Spending too long being too good can wear on you, I guess?