MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. — The St. Louis Blues
are right back at it in preseason
action on Sunday, another road tilt, but this time against the
Columbus Blue Jackets at 4 p.m. (stlblues.com, Blues app, 101.1-FM
ESPN).
The
Blues will send out another group after opening on Saturday and
falling 2-1 in a shootout against the Dallas Stars.
One
player who will get another look is 2025 first-round pick, forward
Justin Carbonneau, who scored the Blues’ lone goal on Saturday.
“You
know what I love about the kid is he loves to play hockey,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said of the 18-year-old. “He loves to be on
the ice, and you know he loves to score goals. He’s trying always
to figure out where he can go to get the puck to score. Then you know
there’s areas of his game, naturally, that he’s got to get
better. He loves to go to the open ice, which is outside the dots.
He’s got to get inside the dots. He’s got to become a more
classic goal scorer we’ve seen here in the Brett Hulls, the Brendan
Shanahans, Tkachuks. Those people score goals inside the dots.”
Carbonneau
skated with Dylan Holloway and 2023 first-round pick Dalibor Dvorsky
and made a couple subtle, sneaky plays to free up his linemates with
strong scoring opportunities.
“He’s
got high-end hockey sense. That he does,” Montgomery said. “In
junior hockey, you get used to having to get the puck to make
something happen. Now he has guys that think the game like him, he’s
got to trust that if he gets open, now he’s getting a Grade A from
inside the dots, the one-timers and stuff.”
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Montgomery’s
overall impressions with Saturday night’s game?
“One,
it’s early in camp; we’ve still got a lot of work to do when I
look at the team game,” he
said. “Individually, our
goaltenders (Jordan Binnington
and Colten Ellis) were
excellent. I thought out top pairing was very good (Philip
Broberg and Logan Mailloux). I
thought some individuals up front looked very good, and then there
were some individuals that didn’t show enough.”
Mailloux
broke up a play during the overtime when the Blues were shorthanded
4-on-3 that really helped them settle into getting an important kill,
and it’s roles like those that the coaches are looking to trust the
22-year-old in.
“We’ve
got to see what he can handle, because his instincts are really good
as a player,” Montgomery said. “Offensively, I saw some really
good instincts. Defensively off the rush, I saw some good stuff. It’s
his first time playing a zone, so he’s a little slow in the D-zone.
That’s to be expected. There’s a little thinking going on by both
teams last night. That’s why there weren’t that many scoring
chances. But our goalies were fantastic.”
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The
Blues are taking more players on Sunday that have things to prove and
not as much of a more polished lineup again, leaving a number of
veterans behind.
Among
those making his debut include Milan Lucic, in camp on a PTO; Nick
Bjugstad is making his Blues debut; Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre
Texier are in the lineup, and young guys to go with Carbonneau
include 2023 first-rounder Otto Stenberg, Dylan Peterson, Jakub Stancl, 2024 first-round pick Adam Jiricek,
Quinton Burns, and Tyler Tucker, playing his first game since ending
his season with a lower-body injury in the playoffs against the
Winnipeg Jets.
“See
who’s going to start asserting themselves to wanting to make the
Blues team,” Montgomery said. “It’s really that basic, who can
show is the habits and details of [Nathan] Walker and [Alexey]
Toropchenko, who has that dogged determination that Holloway plays
with, who is the defenseman that is going to break up plays and look
to jump and go like [Colton] Parayko and [Cam] Fowler and [Justin]
Faulk do.”
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Jake
Neighbours (personal) and Juraj Pekarcik (undisclosed injury), each
who hasn’t been on the ice for the start of training camp, did not
practice on Sunday but each was on the ice after skaters practiced
doing skating drills and conditioning.
“Yeah,
he’ll be back on Tuesday,” Montgomery
said of Neighbours. “He’ll
do a light skate today without the team and he’ll be ready to go on
Tuesday.”
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Blues
roster:
Forwards
– Nikita Alexandrov, Sam Bitten, Nick Bjugstad, Justin Carbonneau,
Hugh McGing, Mathieu Joseph, Milan Lucic, Dylan Peterson, Jakub
Stancl, Otto Stenberg, Alexandre Texier, Chris Wagner.
Defensemen
– Quinton Burns, Adam Jiricek, Leo Loof, Corey Schueneman, Hunter
Skinner, Tyler Tucker.
Goalies:
Joel Hofer, Vadim Zherenko.
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Blue
Jackets Projected Lineup:
Yegor
Chinakhov-Cole Sillinger-Mathieu Olivier
Dmitri
Voronkov-Luca Del Bel Belluz-Hudson Fasching
Mikael
Pyythia-Brendan Gaunce-James Malatesta
Roman
Ahcan-Oiva Keskinen-Jack Williams
Brendan
Smith-Jake Christiansen
Daemon
Hunt-Charlie Elick
Marcus
Kearsey-Dyson Mayo
Ivan
Fedotov is projected to start in goal; Evan Gardner is projected to
be the backup.
Observations From Blues’ 2-1 Preseason Shootout Loss Vs. Stars
The St. Louis Blues
opened the preseason with a 2-1
shootout loss against the Dallas
Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday.
Blues Prospect Continues To Stand Out; Making Quite The Impression In Second Season With Team
St. Louis Blues prospect Aleksanteri Kaskimaki took part in the opening pre-season game last night, continuing to make an impression on the coaching staff.
