(11-14-24) St. Louis Blues-Buffalo Sabres Gameday Lineup

Radek Faksa knows all too well some of the struggles the Dallas Stars had when he was a member there.

The 30-year-old was with the Stars in 2016-17 and 2017-18 when they didn't make the playoffs and were plodding along going through a reset of their own.

It was a stretch of three out of five seasons in which the Stars missed out on the playoffs before finding their footing in 2021-22 and they've been a power since.

As the St. Louis Blues (7-9-0) begin a three-game road trip against the Buffalo Sabres (7-8-1) today at 6:30 p.m. (HULU, ESPN+, ESPN 101.1-FM) on a three-game losing streak, in order for them to begin getting consistent results again, Faksa offered the following:

"We need to better handle the games. We have to play with confidence when we have a lead or when we are down one goal," he said. "You have to stick to your game. That's the biggest thing. We have to learn how to play in the situations.

"We have to support each other on the bench more. We can't be in panic mode. We have to support each other because everyone will make mistakes, but you have another four guys (on the ice) to help each other fix the mistake. Mistakes will happen.

"You can see the potential when we're playing well. We are a really good team. All four lines are really strong. That's what you need in the NHL is to have all four lines going. I see the potential. We just have to execute it on the ice, get a couple wins, get confident and handle the situations better."

Confidence seems to be a word that pops up often and it's a logical assumption to think that's it.

"I don't know if it's confidence, but it's about decisions," Faksa said. "The game was pretty good [Tuesday]. We have to just learn the details. If we learn the details, if you win tight games, you build your confidence as well and you will feel better in the situations."

The Blues are coming off a five-game homestand in which they were tied late against Utah Hockey Club, only to lose 4-2, then were blown out 8-1 against the Washington Capitals last Saturday before blowing a 2-0 third-period lead Tuesday in a 3-2 loss against the Boston Bruins.

"When you're down like this, I think you really find out a lot about your team," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "What I know about this group is they're a resilient bunch and they're going to keep pushing. [Tuesday] night after 40 minutes, we felt good about our game. We showed resiliency and some of the things we talked about a few days before as far as our game, our team game, guys were doing that. I thought our PK was outstanding and our power play fed off of that and scored two big goals for us. Now it's just focusing on highs and lows, whether it's wins and losses or in the game and playing with more of a even keel and pushing through the tough times."

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One lineup change that appears set to take place is Kasperi Kapanen going in for Alexandre Texier on the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist and Mathieu Joseph.

Meanwhile, Brandon Saad, who only played 8:57 on Tuesday and had just two shifts in the third period, will move up and play with Brayden Schenn and Dylan Holloway in a  effort to get the veteran forward going; he has just two goals on the season but both came against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 22.

"I think when I look at Brandon, the three things that stick out to me when he's really playing well is using his speed, driving 'D' deep into the zone (and) he's always strong on pucks," Bannister said. "A lot of times it's where he scores goals are around the net and he's heavy on his stick and he's winning those puck battles. And with that speed, being able to get to pucks first.

"I think Brandon right now, there's times where he's played really well and there's times where I think he's like a lot of us right now, we're second-guessing ourselves and it's tough when you're a player to second-guess yourself. You want to be able to just go out and play and play with confidence. He's probably rightfully struggling with that a little bit. But he's a veteran guy and he's had a lot of success in this league and he's going to be an important player for us. He's going to get up and running and he's going to be a big impact player for us."

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou

Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Dylan Holloway

Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Nathan Walker

Mathieu Joseph-Oskar Sundqvist-Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko

Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Justin Faulk

Scott Perunovich-Matthew Kessel

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

Healthy scratches include Alexandre Texier, Zack Bolduc and Leo Loof. Robert Thomas (ankle), Nick Leddy (lower body) and Philip Broberg (knee) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.

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Sabres Projected Lineup:

Zach Benson-Ryan McLeod-Alex Tuch

JJ Peterka-Dylan Cozens-Jack Quinn

Jordan Greenway-Peyton Krebs-Jason Zucker

Beck Malenstyn-Sam Lafferty-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Rasmus Dahlin-Bowen Byram

Owen Power-Jacob Bryson

Dennis Gilbert-Connor Clifton

Devon Levi will start in goal; James Reimer will be the backup.

The healhy scratch includes Henri Jokiharju. Tage Thompson (lower body), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) are day to day. Mattias Samuelsson (lower body) is out.