(1-4-25) St. Louis Blues-Columbus Blue Jackets Gameday Lineup

Alexandre Texier will make his return to Columbus tonight when the St. Louis Blues (19-17-4), fresh off a 4-0 win against the Ottawa Senators on Friday, play the Columbus Blue Jackets (16-17-6) at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Texier, who spent the first five seasons of his career with the Jackets after they selected him in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft, was a restricted free agent this past summer but Columbus chose not to re-sign the 25-year-old. He was eventually traded to the Blues on June 29 for a 2025 fourth-round pick before signing a two-year, $4.2 million contract.

“It’s going to be fun,” Texier said. “I have a lot of friends there. I only play in Columbus before so I know everything there. I’m super-excited.”

And those friends are?

“The Russian mafia,” Texier joked. “There are four or five. [Kirill] Marchenko, [Yegor] Chinakhov, [Dmitri] Voronkov, those guys, we went on vacation together, spent a lot of time. I’m excited to see them.”

It’s been an adjustment for Texier with the Blues so far. He started the season with a solid game in the opener in Seattle, then was sidelined with an upper-body injury. He struggled to find a defined role early on, with only a goal and two assists in his first 16 games. But in the past five, when coach Jim Montgomery has used him on the top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich or on the fourth line, he’s put up two goals and two assists the past five games, including a goal Tuesday in the Discover NHL Winter Classic.

“It’s his details. When his details are on, I think he’s a top six player in this league,” Montgomery said. “He’s got to find the consistency of doing things right, and he’s really augmented in that area. That’s why I’ve played him in 3-on-3, I’ve played him on power play and on Thomas’ line for a couple games, and unfortunately, he fell ill.”

Texier did get sick and has recently played with Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker. But needless to say, being a regular now in the lineup has boosted his confidence level.

“I think it’s getting there,” Texier said. “Game after game, I feel more confident making plays and playing the right way. Just got to do the right thing and confidence will be there and it’s coming. I’ve felt good. Just got to keep going.

“I’m not changing my game. On the first line, fourth line, whatever. Just play the same way.”

And that includes, “Just simple plays. Like getting out of the D-zone, good on the forecheck, just a simple game, nothing fancy, but that’s where I’m at my best.

“I think we’ve been talking a lot together (with the coaching staff), even with Claude [Julien] too. It’s been good. It helps you with your confidence and try to get your game better and to another level. It’s been good so far.”

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Let’s see if the Blues can finally string together a three-game winning streak tonight.

For the seventh time this season, the Blues will be attempting such a feat. They’re 0-5-1 in those games to this point and will hope Lucky 7 is the trick.

“They’re important,” Blues defenseman Ryan Suter said. “Every point matters right now. We kind of dug ourselves a hole. We know that we have to play good every night.”

The Blues, 4-1-0 their past five games, would like to string together a run of games leading into the 4 Nations Face-Off and be positioned in a good spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

“It doesn’t matter 16 games. We know we have to win games,” Buchnevich said. “We give up too many points earlier this season and now we have to catch other teams. Every game’s important, every game’s a new game and we have to be ready. Every game’s two points and we’ve got to get those points right now.”

Montgomery doesn’t want to see if the team can do this, do that, have this kind of record in the games leading up to the February break. He’s about the here and the now.

“I just like focusing on the moment,” he said. “I do tell the team that I see it coming, and I do tell them about the urgency we need to play consistently to make a push for the playoffs, and we just got to continue to build on what we’ve done since Christmas. Because the only game we lost (4-2 against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 29) is a game we outshot a team (37-16).”

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Brandon Saad’s hat trick Friday was his first – third ever -- since Oct. 5, 2017, the regular-season opener for the Chicago Blackhawks against his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins, a game that was a bludgeoning.

“Yeah, I do (remember) actually, 10-1 against my hometown in Pittsburgh,” Saad said. “That was another fun one. It’s nice to score goals, it’s nice to contribute and it’s nice to get the win.”

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The Blues did not hold a morning skate and Montgomery will address any potential lineup changes at 4:45 p.m. (CT). Justin Faulk (upper-body injury) did not play Friday but made the two-game trip; Oskar Sundqvist (illness) did not play Friday.

* UPDATE -- Sundqvist took warmups and will play, replacing Zack Bolduc; Faulk and center Radek Faksa (lower-body injury) remain out but expectation is they'll practice on Monday.

Joel Hofer will get the start in goal, Montgomery said Friday morning when he said one will get one game and the other gets the one game.

As for Faulk being out, the Blues adjusted their defensive unit, splitting up Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko, who have been exceptional together. Suter played with Parayko and Fowler played on his off side with Philip Broberg, while Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker accounted for the third pairing Friday.

“Fowler, we just practiced there,” Montgomery said. “I was watching him on the off side because we had seven D, and I asked him how much he’s played the off side, and he’s like, ‘Oh a ton.’ Because he looked really comfortable and good there. It’s hard to play on the off side. Not a lot of defensemen are naturally like that. [Scott] Niedermeyer, [Miro] Heiskanen come to mind right away. Because of his gifted skating ability, he’s comfortable playing there.”

The Blues didn’t seem to miss a beat for the most part with the game management portion of it.

“The first period was probably the best it was,” Montgomery said. “Second period was not great. I thought we had a little bit of a letdown. I thought Ottawa had a push, but the last 10 minutes, we got back to it, so yeah.

“I just liked how professional we were and mature about our game. As a coach when you’re watching your team grow, you see parts of their game mature, where you’re not talking to them on the bench about the right way to play. They’re just doing it, and that’s what I liked. I don’t think we were at the top of our game tonight. How fast we played, pace, I just don’t think we played as well as we did in the Winter Classic, but we played mature. Our game management was high end tonight.”

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Jake Neighbours-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph

Alexey Toropchenko-Nathan Walker-Alexandre Texier

Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Cam Fowler

Tyler Tucker-Scott Perunovich

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

The healthy scratch is Zack Bolduc. Justin Faulk (upper body), Radek Faksa (lower body) and Nick Leddy (lower body) are projected to all be out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

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Blue Jackets Projected Lineup:

Dmitri Voronkov-Sean Monahan-Kirill Marchenko

James van Riemsdyk-Adam Fantilli-Zach Aston-Reese

Kent Johnson-Cole Sillinger-Mathieu Olivier

Mikael Pyyhtia-Sean Kuraly

Zach Werenski-Dante Fabbro

Denton Mateychuk-Ivan Provorov

Jake Christiansen-Jordan Harris

Jack Johnson

Elvis Merzlikins will start in goal; Daniil Tarasov will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Damon Severson and Kevin Labanc. Boone Jenner (shoulder), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body) and Justin Danforth (lower body) are out.