Craig Berube has quite a few lineup changes for Sunday’s 7 p.m. CT matchup with the Anaheim Ducks (Bally Sports, 101 ESPN).
First off - as far as personnel goes - Nikita Alexandrov will enter the lineup in place of Sammy Blais on the fourth line. Alexandrov will be making his third appearance of the season and first in nearly a month after last playing on Oct. 21 vs. Pittsburgh.
“(I want him to) bring some energy,” Berube said of Alexandrov. “He’s rested… I wanted to get fresh bodies in there. He’s a smart player, but he’s got to make sure that he’s winning his puck battles and giving us good energy out there.”
Marco Scandella will return to the lineup as well, replacing Robert Bortuzzo, who played Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. In addition, Joel Hofer will start in goal as the Blues complete a set of three games in four nights.
After a disappointing first period Saturday against the Kings, Berube shuffled his forward lines and saw some positive results, so he’s expected to stick with those line combinations for Sunday’s matchup.
“I thought the (Robert) Thomas line with (Jordan) Kyrou on there created some good opportunities, had some good motion going, good puck play. And I really liked the (Kevin) Hayes line with (Kasperi Kapanen) and (Alexey) Toropchenko on there. I thought they did a good job. They were a heavy line, controlling the play in the offensive zone.”
