After a disappointing 0-2-1 road trip, the St. Louis Blues return home to Enterprise Center knowing the importance of Saturday's matchup against the division-rival Minnesota Wild (5 p.m., Bally Sports, 101 ESPN). Currently just one point separates the two teams in a congested Western Conference playoff race that has numerous teams battling for the final Wild Card spots.
"All we can do is worry about ourselves right here," said Interim Head Coach Drew Bannister. "We've gotta win hockey games and take care of what we have to do and not worry about what other teams are doing."
As Bannister focuses on his team, he has some big lineup decisions to make. That includes two changes from last game - one on forward and one on defense.
Forward Kasperi Kapanen and defenseman Scott Perunovich - both scratched on Wednesday - will draw back into the lineup. Kapanen will skate on the fourth line alongside Nathan Walker and Oskar Sundqvist, while Perunovich will be paired with Marco Scandella on the back-end.
"Edmonton was a reset for them, so we want to get them back out on the ice," Bannister said. "If they're playing the way that we need them to, that makes us a better team."
Regardless of who's in the lineup, the coach expects to see the same effort the team gave last game in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Oilers:
"I liked the effort [vs. Edmonton], I thought the effort was there from the group. We gotta continue with the same effort, build on some of the positives that were in the game and then fix some of the things that we didn't like."
The team did not hold a morning skate Saturday. The below projected lineup is based on Friday's practice at Enterprise Center. Jordan Binnington will start in net.
