After squandering a four-goal lead and losing 6-4 to the Red Wings on Saturday in Detroit, the St. Louis Blues will seek redemption during their rematch Tuesday night on home ice.
While Detroit had two days off to prepare, the Blues fell to the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Monday night for their fourth straight loss (0-3-1).
“The great thing about sports is, especially in our league, you get to respond real quick,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We didn’t have a good enough effort tonight, we play tomorrow night at home and we’ve got to have a better effort.”
St. Louis might face the Red Wings without No. 1 center Robert Thomas (upper-body injury), who is listed as day-to-day and sat out Monday’s loss. Jake Neighbours (lower-body injury) also is day-to-day after sitting out Monday.
In the absence of Thomas, Pius Suter moved into the No. 1 center slot, Brayden Schenn moved up to No. 2 center, Oskar Sundqvist centered the third line and Nick Bjugstad slid over to the middle of the fourth line.
Winger Alexey Toropchenko came off the injured list to play on the fourth line with Bjugstad and Nathan Walker. That line scored in the loss at Pittsburgh.
“Those guys are easy to play with,” said Toropchenko, who played his first game since Oct. 9. “We’re on the same page all together, just work hard, give everything we that we have, every game, every shift, every practice. Wear the other team down.”
The Blues started Joel Hofer in goal at Pittsburgh, so they likely will give Jordan Binnington another shot at the Red Wings. Binnington (2-3-1, 3.12 goals-against average) allowed five goals on 27 shots in the first meeting.
In Saturday’s matchup, defenseman Simon Edvinsson (two goals), J.T Compher (goal, assist), Jonatan Berggren (goal, assist) and Andrew Copp (two assists) led Detroit to its comeback victory.
After an ugly 7-2 road setback to the New York Islanders two days earlier, the Red Wings fell behind the Blues 4-0 in the first 23:12 of their game.
“We had absolutely nothing going on,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “It looked like we were discombobulated all over the rink. Anything we did, we were in the wrong spot. We checked poorly. We didn’t pick up the right people. It was borderline disaster.”
Their subsequent rally could create an early inflection point in their season.
“I think this is one we’ll lean on,” Compher said. “There’s going to be bad periods and bad stretches. We’re going to get into holes throughout the year, but this is one that no matter the situation in the game, we’re going to believe that we can come back and get the job done.”
McLellan tried to trigger that turning point by calling timeout and delivering a spirited message for his players after the Blues scored their fourth goal.
“That’s probably a message we’ll keep between us,” McLellan said. “Obviously, it wasn’t, ‘Hey, we’re playing real well. Let’s keep it up.’ Sometimes, those things need to be done and said.”
