ST. LOUIS – It was quite the injury scare for the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
From going to potentially missing time with a lower-body injury to being on the ice Thursday for a morning skate, Philip Broberg is expected to be in the lineup when the Blues (23-21-4) host the Vegas Golden Knights (29-14-4) at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) in the second of a home-and-home set.
Broberg went down into the boards towards the end of practice on Wednesday and didn’t immediately get up, needing help off the ice from trainers favoring his right leg.
At the time, coach Jim Montgomery didn’t have an update on the defenseman’s condition but Broberg was skating in full, with Ryan Suter on his offside and looked good to go.
“It’s always scary when anybody goes down and somebody that had already been out with a lower-body injury,” Montgomery said. “Fortunately enough, he looks like he’s going to be a player tonight, so that’s great news.”
Broberg will remain on his offside, and it’s a spot that Montgomery happens to like.
Why?
“We moved him to his offside and I think he’s been a lot more dynamic offensively, and he’s very comfortable,” Montgomery said. “When you’re a gifted skater like he is, it’s the way he defends really well and how great his feet are. You play the offside, it’s just getting used to it again and he’s played the offside a lot in his life. It’s just a matter of him getting reps and he’s really good at defending either side of the ice.”
The Blues will not make any lineup changes from Monday’s 5-4 shootout win in Vegas other than Joel Hofer will get his first career start against the Golden Knights in this game.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jake Neighbours
Pavel Buchnevich-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexey Toropchenko
Nathan Walker-Radek Faksa-Mathieu Joseph
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Ryan Suter-Philip Broberg
Tyler Tucker-Justin Faulk
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Scott Perunovich, Zack Bolduc and Alexandre Texier. Nick Leddy (lower body) is out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.
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Golden Knights Projected Lineup:
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Mark Stone
Victor Olofosson-Tomas Hertl-Pavel Dorofeyev
Brendan Brisson-Brett Howden-Alexander Holtz
Tanner Pearson-Nicolas Roy-Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin-Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague-Zach Whitecloud
Ilya Samsonov will start in goal; Adin Hill will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Ben Hutton, Kaedan Korczak and Tanner Laczynski. William Karlsson (lower body) and Cole Schwindt (lower body) are out.
