(10-15-24) Minnesota Wild-St. Louis Blues Gameday Lineup

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues open their home schedule on Tuesday when they host the Minnesota Wild (6:30 p.m.; ESPN, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The Blues (2-1-0) completed a season-opening three-game trip taking four of a possible six points. They showed great resolve in each game coming back from multi-goal deficits winning two but they know it's not the way to play -- and sustain success -- should they want to continue to compete and win.

"I've been in the league long enough so I know you cannot do that every game," forward Radek Faksa said. "We played pretty good games, but I feel like we just stopped playing every game for like 10-15 minutes. It can cost you a game. If we play 60 minutes of good hockey, I feel we have a pretty good chance to win."

Coach Drew Bannister and the players went over that very message the past couple days since they last played, a 4-3 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, that it's imperative, especially tonight, to stay consistent throughout.

"We're a work-based team," Bannister said. "Everything we do has to start and end with work, all three zones, with and without the puck. There's no question that we dug ourselves into a hole in a couple of those games. We got off to good starts in all three games, I thought. We got a couple bad bounces in the second game that we were able to work ourselves out of (a 5-4 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks, overcoming a 4-1 third-period deficit). The game in Vegas, I thought that game kind of got away from us, not based on effort. I thought the effort was there for 60 minutes, but we made some mistakes that were certainly correctable. ... You can't find yourself having to fight back on the road all the time. You want to keep the game close and play a smart road hockey game.

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"Tonight will be no different. We're going to have to be patient, we're going to have to be disciplined, we're going to have to be smart.

"It's a division game for us. All these games become very tough as the season goes on, I don't expect anything different here tonight. It's going to be a tough game for us tonight. Their speed, their skill in their top six and then they're heavy in their bottom six. I'm looking for a good game here tonight that I think is going to be quick and is going to be heavy."

Wild coach Jon Hynes, who will be without at least two key players (center Joel Eriksson Ek, broken nose; and defenseman Jared Spurgeon, lower-body injury) and possibly a third (forward Marcus Johansson, undisclosed, is questionable) feels the same as far as needing to be ready to play against a formidable opponent.

"They look good," Hynes said of the Blues. "They're a healthy group. It seems like the same thing too. I saw some pre-scout stuff, but I saw the (Blues' season opener) against Seattle, they got down and Seattle was all over them, but they stayed with it and pushed through.

"Very similar. They have some guys if you give them looks, they can score. They're good off the rush, they can push the pace. They look the like the St. Louis Blues to me. That's the challenge that they present."

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Should be get a multi-point game tonight, Blues forward Jordan Kyrou would join Paul Kariya as the only players in franchise history to begin a season with four straight multi-point games.

Kyrou has six points (two goals, four assists) in the first three games, scoring twice in the opener against the Kraken, then adding two assists each in the games against the Sharks and Golden Knights.

Kyrou's three-straight games matches the feats of Andy McDonald (2008-09), Jeff Brown (1993-94), Kevin Miller (1993-94) and Phil Goyette (1969-70).

Kariya had eight points (one goal, seven assists) in the first four games of the 2008-09 season.

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jake Neighbours

Zack Bolduc-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Mathieu Joseph

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker

Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Matthew Kessel

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

Healthy scratches include Kasperi Kapanen, P.O. Joseph and Scott Perunovich. Alexandre Texier (upper body), Oskar Sundqvist (knee) and Torey Krug (ankle) are out.

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Wild Projected Lineup:

Kirill Kaprizov-Marco Rossi-Mats Zuccarello

Liam Ohgren-Ryan Hartman-Matt Boldy

Marcus Foligno-Marat Khusnutdinov-Yakov Trenin

Jakub Lauko-Frederick Gaudreau

Brock Faber

Jake Middleton-Jonas Brodin

Jon Merrill-Zach Bogosian

Daemon Hunt-Declan Chisholm

Filip Gustavsson will start in goal; Marc-Andre Fleury will be the backup.

The Wild are not expected to have any healthy scratches. Joel Eriksson Ek (broken nose) and Jared Spurgeon (lower body) are out. Marcus Johansson (undisclosed) is questionable.

Related: St. Louis Blues activate Saad, put Texier on IR

Related: Sundqvist cleared for contact, return for St. Louis Blues not far off