Don’t expect any huge changes.
Let’s just say that while last night’s 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes wasn’t ideal, their game improved as play went on. Pavel Buchnevich and Vladimir Tarasenko in particular looked sharp, as proven by their respective goals. Tarasenko, in particular, has proven to everyone that yes, his shoulder is fine. He has six goals and seven assists in 13 games played; last season, he finished with four goals and ten assists in 24 games. So, in eleven fewer games played, he’s nearly matched his point total.
He’s fine.
The Blues, even with their depleted line-up, are fine. There are some places where they could be better (Marco Scandella is the new whipping child, and last night’s performance was… less than ideal), but overall, after 13 games played, they’re doing fine.
Binnington is in tonight for Hofer, clearly, but the rest of the lineup is the same as last night. From stlblues.com:
Forwards
Kyrou – O’Reilly – Buchnevich
Barbashev – Thomas – Tarasenko
Saad – Bozak – Perron
Kostin – Joshua – Neal
Defense
Scandella – Parayko
Rosen – Faulk
Walman – Bortuzzo
Goalie
Binnington