ST.
LOUIS – Perhaps
an infusion of new blood can spur the St. Louis Blues in the right
direction.
That’s
what they’re hoping for when the Blues (12-15-7) entertain the
Winnipeg Jets (15-15-2) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
It’s
because Otto Stenberg and Jonatan Berggren will each make his Blues
debut in the game.
For
Stenberg, it will be his first NHL game and the second of three
first-round picks from the 2023 NHL Draft to play in the NHL along
with Dalibor Dvorsky, who was the No. 10 pick; Stenberg was No. 25,
and defenseman Theo Lindstein, who is in Springfield of the American
Hockey League, was No. 29.
Stenberg
was called up
from Springfield on Thursday, the latest of Thunderbirds recalls with
the rash of forward injuries the Blues are dealing with.
On
Tuesday, he was skating on a line with Jake Neighbours and Dvorsky.
“Of
course, I’m excited,” Stenberg
said.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s something special. Just
try to act like a normal game, soak it all in and enjoy, but I’ll
just try to prepare like a normal game, I guess.
“Just
play my game and do what got me here in Springfield before I get
here. Be myself I guess. I’ll try to do my best to give the team
energy. Try to play as good as I can and help the team any way I
can.”
Berggren,
claimed off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, will also
be in the lineup.
The
25-year-old, a second-round pick in the 2018 draft, had an inkling
that something might happen, and was hopeful of it, too. He last
played for the Red Wings on Dec. 11 and prior to that, Nov. 24.
“It’s
a business and when you don’t play many games in a row in Detroit
to kind of know (something
was going to happen),” Berggren said.
“Maybe it was something I was hoping for too to get a fresh start.
I’m really happy that the Blues took me.
“It’s
been a lot for sure. I’m just so excited to come to St. Louis and
meet the guys and meet the coaches and just play hockey. It’s been
a lot, but I’m also excited.”
Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said the infusion of new players could be just
what the team needs.
“Every
time you get new blood, it’s like the first game of the year,
everybody’s hopes and desires are all positive and a positive
attitude usually permeates in the group so it’s going to bring us
good energy,” Montgomery
said.
Stenberg
will have his parents, David and Cecilia and girlfriend on attendance
after some scurrying of getting plane tickets from Sweden.
“My
mom and dad are actually coming here. And my girlfriend is here; she
came here from Springfield,” Stenberg
said.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. I think they got tickets
yesterday.”
Berggren,
who had two goals and four assists in 15 games with the Red Wings
this season after 12 goals and 12 assists in 75 games last season,
hopes to add some offensive prowess into the lineup for the Blues,
and the fact he’s played with a couple of the guys and that there
are fellow Swedes, should make for an easy transition.
“I’m
a skillful forward that likes to play with the puck and likes to
create offense,” he
said.
“I feel like this team has skillful players and like to play
offensive style of hockey. That’s kind of what I want to do too.
I’m excited.
“It’s
a lot of Swedes and guys I played with in Detroit too and Grand
Rapids. It makes it a lot easier to adapt to the team when you know
people from before.”
Montgomery
said the Blues took a flier on Berggren because, “the
speed and skill is something we believe with our current situation
that he could add to our group, and that’s what we’re expecting
him to fit in. We have a lot of Swedes so the language barrier won’t
be so hard.
“You have a technical package ready
to show your players that this is what we want to do in all three
zones with the puck and with the schedule this year, I watched the
Florida-Tampa game and I don’t recognize some of the names that are
on the ice and that’s happening to everybody this year.”
- - -
Tuesday’s game is the first between
the Blues and Jets since that epic first-round seven-game series from
last year’s playoffs.
“I think for our group it means a
lot, and not because of the outcome of the series,” Montgomery
said. “Obviously we felt we would have liked to win Game 7, but
more importantly, I think it’s we were playing a really good brand
of hockey and for a lot of players, I think that brings excitement to
get back to that brand of hockey that we were playing.
“It brings back more of what a great
series it was. I saw some things like they ranked the best series of
the playoffs, it was ranked No. 2 behind the Final, which was epic
with a lot of great comebacks in that series. It was old-school
hockey. It was mean, it was hard, it was vicious and in the end, you
had two teams that really I think were competed and emptied the tank
so much that the handshake line was what you want in the Stanley Cup
Playoffs.”
- - -
Blues
Projected
Lineup:
Pavel
Buchnevich-Robert
Thomas-Robbi
Fabbri
Otto
Stenberg-Dalibor
Dvorsky-Jake
Neighbours
Brayden
Schenn-Pius Suter-Jonatan
Berggren
Alexey
Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu
Joseph
Philip
Broberg-Colton Parayko
Matthew
Kessel-Justin Faulk
Cam
Fowler-Logan Mailloux
Joel
Hofer will
start in goal; Jordan
Binnington will
be the backup.
Healthy
scratches could include Tyler
Tucker and
Matt
Luff. Dylan
Holloway (high ankle sprain), Jordan Kyrou (lower body), Jimmy
Snuggerud (wrist), Nathan Walker (upper body) and
Nick
Bjugstad (upper body) are
all out.
-
- -
Jets
Projected
Lineup:
Kyle
Connor-Mark Scheifele-Gabriel Vilardi
Nino
Niederreiter-Vladislav Namestnikov-Cole Perfetti
Morgan
Barron-Adam Lowry-Alex Iafallo
Cole
Koepke-Jonathan Toews-Gustav Nyquist
Josh
Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Dylan
Samberg-Neal Pionk
Logan
Stanley-Luke Schenn
Connor
Hellebuyck will
start in goal; Eric
Comrie will
be the backup.
Healthy
scratches include Colin
Miller, Tanner Pearson and
Haydn
Fleury.
The Jets have no injuries.
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