By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Blues coach Mike Yeo spoke of making changes to the lineup in light of the Blues matching the longest losing streak since the 2009-10 season.
The Blues (34-26-4), who host the Detroit Red Wings (26-26-10) at 7 p.m. (NBCSN, KMOX 1120-AM), have lost seven in a row (0-5-2) and will look to stop a runaway train that seems to have no end and prevent their first eight-game losing streak since losing 11 in a row from (0-8-3) Nov. 25-Dec. 17, 2006. And they will make one lineup change.
Veteran Patrik Berglund will be a healthy scratch and veteran Chris Thorburn will come in against the Red Wings.
Berglund was among the players Yeo did not mention in his group of players he felt played effectively enough during an 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
In fact, when Yeo was pressed on those players he did not name, he said, "Unhappy with them, yes."
Other candidates like Vladimir Sobotka, Carl Gunnarsson and Colton Parayko, to name a few noteworthy players, could have been candidates but the problem is the Blues only have 22 players on the roster and two defensemen (Joel Edmundson and Robert Bortuzzo) on injured reserve.
So Berglund, who signed a five-year, $19.25 million extension last July, is the first example of players that need to take notice.
Berglund has just 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 40 games and just three points (one goal, two assists) in 12 games in the month of February.
"Losing seven games in a row I'd say was part of it," Yeo said. "... I just met with 'Bergy.' Those are obviously, I don't want to say, difficult decisions. He's a guy that his teammates love and a guy I've seen play very good hockey for us. But he's not playing to the level that he can right now. I feel like he's lost right now as far as his identity, his role, and what he's doing when he's an effective player.
"He comes out tonight. Part of it might be as a message to the team that somebody could be next. Part of it is as a message to 'Bergy.' Part of it is the reset button, too. Again, just met with him and we'll do everything we can to make sure he puts in extra work to feel confident. We'll do everything we can to look at video to remind him of the things he's doing when he's effective."
Yeo did want to clarify that there were a couple names he left out Tuesday that were part of the player group that he feels are maximizing their efforts to play the right way. They include Ivan Barbashev and newcomer Nikita Soshnikov.
"There were a couple guys I left off that list. I liked 'Barby's game. 'Sosh' was minus-3 but I thought there were some good moments from him, too," Yeo said. "But otherwise, the guys I said, I think I was pretty accurate with."
The other guys Yeo considered benching will be given another chance.
"A couple of them responded better in the third period and that gave us a chance to see what they can do to day. That was part of it."
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So ... about that losing streak that has the Blues two points out of the second wildcard in the Western Conference behind the Anaheim Ducks, as doom and gloom as everything is, the Blues have to find a way to get a job done.
Winning a game is always the biggest obstacle trying to work out of one of these problems.
"What we've had the last little bit has not been good enough and obviously we're looking at it and making adjustments," Blues left wing Alexander Steen said. "We are where we are. It's not going to help us to sit and dwell. We've got to stay up and we have a chance to get back at it tonight, which is a positive for our club. The things that have been missing have to show up tonight.
"... There's a combination of things that need to come together, things that have been instilled in us, in this club for a long time that's slipped a little bit. Not impossible to get back, especially not tonight, but that's the way it is right now. This is where we are, this is the situation we've put ourselves in and to get out of it, we're going to have to earn it."
During this streak, the Blues have been outscored 29-10, and putting the clamps on the defensive side of the puck would be a good place to start. The Blues have been outscored 16-3 the past three games.
"Giving up tons of goals. That's No. 1," Yeo said. "Getting behind early in games, down 2-0 before you really have a chance to sit on the bench. That's a big part of it. Whether it's taking penalties, whether it's defending better to start a game, whether it's getting a save to start a game, all of those things, we have to be tighter there. It's tough when you go into a game and the intentions were there yesterday, I know that we came out and there was good energy on the bench, and the next thing you know, before you have a chance to get into the game, you take a penalty and the puck's in your net. And then you give up another one right away. The next thing you know, you could see certain guys brains, they all of a sudden turn off. We have to be sharper. We talk a lot about when we're on top of our game, playing as a five-man unit, we're connected, we have to get back to that. Every situation on the ice, every player knows what their job is and what they're supposed to do and what their role is. What we're finding right now is, we're doing that some shifts, but we have other shifts where, all it takes is one guy. If one guy is trying to do someone else's job, one guy is not doing his job well enough, that's when you're not connected, you're not playing as a unit of five."
Steen agreed that there were good portions of the game.
"Yeah, I honestly did, especially at the start of the game and the attitude in the room," he said. "I felt like we had gotten our mojo back. We played a good club and they took advantage of some opportunities and moving through the game, we had moments of cracking unfortunately in our structure and what we were trying to accomplish last night and they didn't and they ended up with a big win for them. It was not a great feeling after the game last night, but can't bring that into tonight. We have to find a way to move past that. There's a lot of hockey left to be played and we're still right there and right in this fight. Tonight would be a huge chance for us to turn it around and start pushing for those playoff spots."
Maybe the Blues can incorporate a little bit of former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who coined the phrase 'Just Win, Baby!'
"We just need one win," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "One win tonight, don't look past that. I think it will give us a lot of confidence in the room. Obviously we're going through a little bit of a tough stretch right now. But get one win at home here, we're still in the fight, we're only a couple points out as bad as it's been lately. We still have a chance; we just need one win to turn it around."
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Carter Hutton, who relieved Jake Allen after the first period, will get the nod tonight.
Allen is 2-14-0 his past 14 starts and Yeo was asked what the Blues can do to get him fixed.
"Obviously if we had the answer to that, then I think we would've already fixed this," Yeo said. "'Hutts' will go in tonight and it starts with Jake putting in the good work ethic in practice today. Tomorrow's one of our mandatory days off, and the next day there'll be another good work day in practice.
"Going into a game and just hoping to win right now, that's not necessarily what's gonna help him out. We can play better in front of him. We can score more goals for him. But I think what ultimately, what turned it around for him last year were his habits in practice, and he was able to take those habits and that confidence into the game."
Allen was one of six skaters on the ice (Berglund, Thorburn, Oskar Sundqvist, Edmundson and Bortuzzo.
"Your habits are built through practice," Yeo said. "This is not me saying that he's not doing the right things in practice. I don't know. I don't know that because I'm not a goalie coach. I don't know the finer things. From what I hear he's got a good work ethic right now. But again, there's certain times where he looks like he's scrambling. And he looks like, whether he's over-reacting, whether it's not confident, I'm not sure what the answer is. Again, if we had the answer, then we would've fixed this already. So we'll have to figure it out."
As for Edmundson and Bortuzzo, both got in skates today. Edmundson (broken forearm) is still a few weeks away, but Yeo said Bortuzzo (left knee) will get treatment tomorrow and perhaps skate and hope to have him skate in practice Friday and possibly be made available for the game Saturday afternoon in Dallas.
"Well, he's obviously out tonight and then tomorrow like I said, it's a mandatory day off for the team," Yeo said. "So we'll see if he's gonna skate tomorrow but he'll get some treatment, then we'll have a full practice the next day so we'll see where he's at from that."
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Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo will play in his 600th NHL game tonight.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Alexander Steen-Ivan Barbashev-Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Nikita Soshnikov
Dmitrij Jaskin-Vladimir Sobotka-Tage Thompson
Scottie Upshall-Kyle Brodziak-Chris Thorburn
Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn-Colton Parayko
Carl Gunnarsson-Jordan Schmaltz
Carter Hutton will start in goal; Jake Allen will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Patrik Berglund and Oskar Sundqvist. Robby Fabbri (knee) is out for the season. Joel Edmundson (forearm) and Robert Bortuzzo (knee) are out.
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The Red Wings' projected lineup:
Anthony Mantha-Henrik Zetterberg-Gustav Nyquist
Tyler Bertuzzi-Dylan Larkin-Andreas Athanasiou
Darren Helm-Frans Nielsen-Justin Abdelkader
Martin Frk-Luke Glendening-David Booth
Danny DeKeyser-Nick Jensen
Jonathan Ericsson-Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall-Xavier Ouellet
Jimmy Howard will start in goal; Jared Coreau will be the backup.
The healthy scratch will be Luke Witkowski. Mike Green (neck) is out.
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