MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Robert Thomas will be out at least six weeks for the St. Louis Blues with a fractured his right ankle.
The center forward sustained the injury during a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Thomas, who had two assists in the game, blocked a shot by Jets defenseman Neal Pionk at 1:32 of the third period. He played a two more shifts, including getting an assist on Brandon Saad’s second goal of the game at 5:15, but would miss the final 11:58 after taking a face-off.
Thomas, who is tied for second in scoring for the Blues with six points (one goal, five assists) in seven games this season, had X-rays after the game that revealed the injury.
He was placed on injured reserve by St. Louis (4-3-0) on Wednesday.
“Not the news you’re wanting when you walk into the rink this morning, but he’s our best player,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “He’s a guy that drives the bus for us, but at the end of the day, it’s part of the game and we’re going to need everyone to step up, myself included, and we’ve got to do it collectively.
“It’s more opportunity for guys to make some things happen out there. You never want to see anyone go down, let alone your star player, but this is a chance for everyone to come together and play for one another.”
At practice Wednesday, Schenn assumed the role of No. 1 center with Saad and Oskar Sundqvist, who was a placeholder for Jake Neighbours (maintenance), who did not skate.
Thomas, 25, led the Blues last season with 86 points (26 goals, 60 assists) and played all 82 games.
“It’s tough to obviously replace a player like that, per se,” St. Louis defenseman Colton Poolman said. “I don’t know if ‘replace’ is the right word. I think there’s opportunity for guys to step in. I think that that’s been a strong suit for our team for a long time.
“We have good depth. Guys are able to step in and just collectively as a group push in the right direction and the strength is everybody just pushing together and battling together, [and] good things will happen."
Along with being St. Louis’ top center, Thomas is also on its top power-play unit and one of its top penalty killers.
Along with Schenn, forwards Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway, Radek Faksa, and Sundqvist, who was activated off injured reserve Wednesday after recovering from a torn right ACL sustained March 25 against the Vegas Golden Knights, will have to try to pick up the slack.
“You can’t make up for the player, but as a group, we can make up for it,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “It’s not going to be an individual player, it’s not going to be one player, it’s going to be going to be the 20 guys in the lineup pulling in the same direction and coming together as a team. … I think this is really a good opportunity for us to grab as a team and really come together.
“Unfortunate news for the team and for Robby too. The timing of it, I thought he played a great game [Tuesday] night up until the point of his injury, but it’s a great opportunity for our team to build as a team and once we get him back, whether it’s 4-6 weeks, but it’s important for us. We’re going to need guys to step up in certain roles. There’s a lot of guys in there capable of doing different things. It’s going to be a team effort, not one player. It’s going to be a group of us that pull together.”
