Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron were reunited on the top line with Jordan Kyrou on their left side, Pavel Buchnevich was skating with Robert Thomas and Vladimir Tarasenko, and a completely new line of Brandon Saad, Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev was concocted.
"I was thinking about things, and I wanted to put an identity line together," Berube said of Saad-Sundqvist-Barbashev. "To me, that's an identity line, a line that is going to do the right thing, forecheck hard, play hard, be physical, hard on the other team, (can) play against anybody. I thought they were good in practice today, too."
Defensively, Berube had rookie Scott Perunovich skating with Justin Faulk. Both players played their college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and Faulk has allowed Perunovich to move into his home while the former Hobey Baker winner tries to make his mark with the Blues.
"I think it just makes it a little easier on him while he's trying to get his bearing here," Faulk said. "We all went through being a young guy in a new situations, having to get your bearings... I just wanted to make it easier on him."
Torey Krug joined Colton Parayko on the top pairing, while Marco Scandella moved to the third pairing with Robert Bortuzzo.
Ville Husso is expected to start in goal, making his first start since returning from COVID-19 protocols.
Below is a projected lineup based on Wednesday's practice. If changes are available at warm-ups, those will be updated here.
