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ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues will have to play without another injured forward for the foreseeable future.

Pius Suter is the latest to hit the injury list after the Blues (15-16-8), who host the red-hot Buffalo Sabres (19-14-4) on Monday (7 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM). The forward will be reevaluated in four weeks with a right high ankle sprain sustained in the third period of a 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday after getting an MRI on Sunday.

Suter, who has seven goals and seven assists in 37 games this season, did not practice on Sunday.

It means Robby Fabbri will go back into the lineup in Suter’s spot after being a healthy scratch on Saturday. Also, Mathieu Joseph will re-enter the lineup on the fourth line, and go in for Jonatan Berggren.

But what the Blues will miss in Suter is a plethora of things.

“We haven’t had enough forwards grab and taking ownership of being reliable, trustworthy and really good at their habits and details defensively, and that’s why you see different people in there in different games, because when guys are on their details, they get that opportunity and there’s an opportunity for people to grab that,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We have certain players we know are going to be there, but it’s not like we have two lines of it, and that’s up to the players to grab it. It’s very similar to the discussion we had yesterday about coming into our lineup and who does. We don’t want guys to come out of the lineup, and when you go into the lineup, it’s up to you to be really good at those habits and details so that we don’t take you out. That’s for everybody.”

Could Otto Stenberg, a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, be the guy to replace Suter’s wealth and many things be brings to the game? We’ll have more on that in an upcoming story.

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The Blues will look to derail the Sabres express. In winning eight in a row, the Sabres, who lost 3-0 to the Blues in early November, have scored three or more goals in each game and won four of them by multiple goals, four of them by one goal, outscoring their opponents 25-15.

“It’s a lot different. Just their confidence, their swagger, you could see it,” Montgomery said of the Sabres. “They expect to score goals, they are scoring goals, they’re scoring gritty goals at the net front now besides the skill level that they have, and they have skill on three lines. That’s why your details and in the D-zone off the rush have to be good. And I think that if our details are good there, we’re going to get opportunities going the other way. And then it’s up to us. Last game we were 8-2 in odd-man rushes for. You keep getting those numbers and we get better at executing off the rush, we’re going to start scoring a lot more goals. It’s up to us to be really good at those odd-man rushes.”

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said in beating the Blues, there are several key factors.

“I think the numbers say they’re a great team to get interior shots too so we can’t let pucks go through us,” Ruff said. “I think their speed is evident. Their ‘D’ get up ice. Similar to us, our ‘D’ are heavily involved, their ‘D’ are heavily involved. We’ve got to make sure we don’t turn it into a track meet, that we’re weary of their guys coming.”

The Blues have another opportunity here to get to the .500 mark with a win.

“I think results are secondary right now to our process,” Montgomery said. “I talk about habits and details a lot and our process, the things that we believe in, winning the net fronts, winning special teams, winning the Grade A chances. There’s a lot of things, details that go into those major part of the process, and if we continue to be better at those things in the process, the results will take care of themselves. I’ve always believed that, and I will always believe that as I am a coach.”

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It will be another homecoming for a St. Louis kid playing in the NHL when O’Fallon’s own Josh Dunne, who previously played in two preseason games in St. Louis with the Columbus Blue Jackets, will make his first regular-season appearance here tonight with the Sabres.

I’ll have more on Dunne’s return to St. Louis later, and also got a chance to catch up with goalie Colten Ellis and get his thoughts in being waived by the Blues and what it means to be in the NHL and have this opportunity.

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Otto Stenberg-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Robby Fabbri-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jimmy Snuggerud

Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph

Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko

Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk

Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux

Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Jonatan Berggren and Matthew Kessel. Dylan Holloway (high ankle sprain), Pius Suter (high ankle sprain), Nathan Walker (upper body) and Nick Bjugstad (upper body) are out.

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Sabres Projected Lineup:

Peyton Krebs-Tage Thompson-Josh Doan

Noah Ostlund-Josh Norris-Alex Tuch

Zach Benson-Ryan McLeod-Jack Quinn

Jordan Greenway-Josh Dunne-Beck Malenstyn

Mattias Samuelsson-Rasmus Dahlin

Owen Power-Michael Kesselring

Bowen Byram-Zach Metsa

Alex Lyon will start in goal; Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Isak Rosen and Jacob Bryson. Tyson Kozak (upper body), Conor Timmins (broken leg), Jason Zucker (upper and lower body), Colten Ellis (concussion), Jiri Kulich (blood clot) and Justin Danforth (lower body) are all out.

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The Chicago Blackhawks took on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night at the United Center. It was a 7-3 blowout that ended any goodwill earned in their Saturday night shootout win over the Dallas Stars. 

After giving up four goals on seven shots, Spencer Knight was pulled. The team didn't get the spark that Jeff Blashill was looking for offensively, so he put Knight back in for the third. 

Penguins Skate Out Of Chicago With 7-3 Victory Over BlackhawksThe Chicago Blackhawks were run out of their own building by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.

After the game, Blashill didn't sound like the head coach of a team that was just blown out in the second half of a back-to-back yet again. Instead, he sounded like a coach who was satisfied with the effort and process. 

‘‘It was a night their chances went in, in the first, and our chances didn’t,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘Then you’re just digging yourself out of a hole that’s difficult to dig out of." 

Spencer Knight was leaky, and the Blackhawks did have a couple of chances in the first minute of regulation. Blashill, based on his words, thinks that if Knight was as sharp as he's been this year, and maybe they buried one of their earlier chances, that the game would have gone much differently. 

‘‘We probably had more quality chances than we did last night, especially in that first part," Blashill said. "We probably gave up similar stuff. Theirs went in, and ours didn’t. That’s hockey.’’

The fact of the matter is that it's another four-plus goal defeat that came on the second leg of a back-to-back situation. They are 0-4 in those games, and all of them have been by four or more. They allowed seven or more in three of them. With eight more of these remaining, including this upcoming weekend, it is worth analyzing. 

Wyatt Kaiser and Nick Foligno spoke after the loss, and each of them tried to diagnose what the problem is. If they knew for sure, they would have corrected it already, which is a common answer when an NHL player is asked how something can be fixed. 

Even after tough losses, and this has been said a lot so far in 2025-26, Jeff Blashill is not going to get up to the podium and blast his players unless there is a serious problem. He believes in them up and down the lineup. 

 ‘‘I like who they are as people. I like who they are as competitors. I like who they are as hockey players. And I like the potential in the group, even for the rest of this season." 

It is going to be a tough run of hockey. They don't have Connor Bedard or Frank Nazar right now due to injury, and that makes it harder to win. However, sticking to the process that allowed them to have success earlier in the season will do them good down the stretch as they try to come out of this slump. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

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In the battle of Florida, once again, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning hashed out their anger towards each other through fights and extracurricular activities.

Ultimately, the Lightning left with the two points, defeating the Panthers 4-2. The Panthers took an early lead with an Eetu Luostarinen goal, but three unanswered goals by the Lightning were enough to secure the victory. 

Unsurprisingly, the game was marked by penalties, with two resulting in fines. Anton Lundell was fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for high-sticking Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel. Coincidentally,  Scott Sabourin has been fined $2,018.23, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for slashing Florida’s Niko Mikkola. 

The Panthers had 10 power play opportunities, converting just one. The Lightning had six but failed to score. In the end, the Panthers were given 49 penalty minutes. The Lightning were handed 85 penalty minutes. 

Prior to the game, the Panthers and Lightning were warned by the NHL to keep the fights and altercations clean. The NHL Department of Player Safety felt that none of the altercations needed supplementary discipline, and no suspensions were handed out. 

The Panthers and Lightning have met three times this season, with one more game set for Feb. 5 in Tampa. The Panthers have won just one of three matchups this season. 

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Macklin Celebrini recorded his 20th goal of the season and added an assist as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6–3 on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.

The North Vancouver native continued his strong run of form, extending his point streak to seven games with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) over that span. Celebrini has also been a consistent thorn in Vancouver’s side, registering at least one point in all five games he has played against the Canucks this season.

Igor Chernyshov scored the first NHL goal of his career and added an assist, while Collin Graf found the back of the net for a fourth consecutive game. Yaroslav Askarov turned aside 24 shots as the San Jose Sharks (18-17-3) snapped a three-game losing streak.

For Vancouver, Conor Garland and Filip Hronek each recorded two assists, and Thatcher Demko finished with 32 saves. The Canucks (15-19-3), who entered the game off a strong 4-1-0 road trip prior to the Christmas break, continued to struggle at Rogers Arena, where they have managed just four wins all season (4-11-1).

Ryan Reaves opened the scoring at 6:13 of the first period, snapping a 24-game goal drought by jamming home a loose puck behind Demko as the goaltender lunged to smother it with his blocker, giving the Sharks a 1–0 lead.

John Klingberg doubled the lead at 7:55, firing a point shot through heavy traffic after Celebrini won a clean offensive-zone faceoff back to the blue line.

Vancouver answered on the power play at 10:04, with Linus Karlsson finishing a backdoor tap-in off a crisp feed from Conor Garland to cut the deficit to 2–1.

The Sharks restored their two-goal cushion at 12:38 of the second period. Thatcher Demko denied Celebrini’s one-timer, but the rebound ricocheted off William Eklund at the top of the crease before Canucks center Marco Rossi inadvertently knocked the puck into his own net, resulting in Eklund being credited with the goal.

Rossi made amends early in the third period, scoring just 36 seconds in to cut the deficit to 3–2 by snapping a loose puck from the slot that glanced off Askarov’s blocker and in. It marked his first goal in six games since being acquired from the Minnesota Wild in the Dec. 12 trade that sent defenseman Quinn Hughes the other way.

Vancouver nearly pulled even moments later, successfully killing off a lengthy 5-on-3 for 52 seconds, but San Jose capitalized before the advantage expired. With nine seconds remaining on the second penalty, Chernyshov restored the two-goal cushion at 4:47, quickly snapping a feed from Adam Gaudette past Thatcher Demko after finding open space at the top of the crease. The goal was the first of Chernyshov’s NHL career, coming in just his fifth game.

The Canucks stayed within striking distance when Drew O’Connor scored short-handed on a 2-on-1 at 10:43, wiring a wrist shot to make it 4–3. Any momentum was short-lived, however, as Celebrini answered at 16:20, hammering a one-timer off a Chernyshov feed for his 20th goal of the season and a 5–3 Sharks lead.

While most of the Sharks arrived from San Jose earlier that day, Celebrini enjoyed a familiar setting in Vancouver, skating in the same building where he spent much of his childhood alongside his brother Aiden, now a Canucks defense prospect. With family in attendance following the holidays, the moment carried added significance for the North Vancouver native.

Chernyshov continued his strong start, now totaling five points in five games while spending most of his time alongside Celebrini. His size, puck protection, and instincts around the net have quickly translated to the NHL level, earning him trust in prime offensive situations.

Graf sealed the deal with an empty-net goal at 16:55, his fifth tally in four games, completing a 6–3 victory that featured goals from six different Sharks. The balanced scoring underscored San Jose’s depth, a key ingredient for sustained success.

Celebrini wasn’t the only Shark enjoying a homecoming. Defenseman Vincent Lori, a native of nearby Coquitlam, picked up an assist on Ryan Reaves’ opening goal and heard his name announced in the arena where he once skated as a child. With dozens of family members and friends in attendance, the night marked a fitting full-circle moment in his young NHL career.