This was supposed to be Mathieu Joseph’s return to the place where he last played before the St. Louis Blues acquired the forward.
Joseph spent the past two-plus seasons with the Ottawa Senators before the Blues acquired the 27-year-old on July 2 for future considerations.
Turns out Joseph will have to wait for his Senators homecoming for another day because he will not play tonight, or on the remainder of the road trip, which concludes Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers with a lower-body injury sustained late in a 5-2 loss against the Montreal Canadiens.
Joseph was seen trying to check Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson in the offensive zone with 2:50 remaining in the third period and departed to the bench with 2:37 left and did not take another shift.
Kasperi Kapanen, a healthy scratch in Montreal, will come back into the lineup.
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Matthew Kessel returns to the lineup on defense tonight after being a healthy scratch the past two games, taking the place of Scott Perunovich.
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Perunovich had a decent game, as all the Blues did, in their most complete game of the season against the Maple Leafs, a 5-1 win, but had a costly high-sticking infraction that led to Montreal’s lone power-play goal but put them ahead for good in Saturday, 3-2.
As for Kessel, this is what Bannister said prior to departing for the road trip.
“We’ve been trying to get ‘Kess’ where he was last year,” Bannister said. “I don’t think he’s far off it. I find his decision-making right now is slow. I’d like to see a little quicker plays with him, but the biggest thing for me is from last year to this year. I thought last year he came in with a purpose to become real physical and I’m not seeing that from him right now. That’s what we need out of him.”
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Some news on the prospect injury front: 2024 first-round pick, defenseman Adam Jiricek, has been reassigned to Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League, and appears ready to begin playing again.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said early in training camp that Jiricek, who suffered a right knee injury at the 2024 World Junior Championship, would remain with the club until his rehab from the injury is completed and once he is sent back to juniors, he will be ready to play again, so it is just a matter of time.
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Defenseman Nick Leddy (lower-body injury) will miss a sixth straight game despite being on the road trip and Bannister saying the veteran had a chance to play.
Joel Hofer, 3-0-0 on the season with a 2.32 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, will get the nod in goal tonight. He was the goalie of record when the Blues won 5-2 in Ottawa last season.
Wishing all the best to former Blue David Perron, who is away from the Senators at the moment due to a personal matter involving his wife and unborn child.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Alexandre Texier-Pavel Buchnevich-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours
Zack Bolduc-Dylan Holloway-Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko-Radek Faksa-Oskar Sundqvist
Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
P.O. Joseph-Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nathan Walker and Scott Perunovich. Robert Thomas (ankle), Nick Leddy (lower body) and Mathieu Joseph (lower body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is out for the season.
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Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Ridly Greig
Claude Giroux-Josh Norris-Drake Batherson
Noah Gregor-Ostapchuk-Michael Amadio
Nick Cousins-Adam Gaudette-Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson-Travis Hamonic
Thomas Chabot-Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven-Jacob Bernard-Docker
Linus Ullmark will start in goal; Anton Forsberg will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include David Perron, Mads Sogaard and Cole Reinhardt. Artem Zub (concussion) and Shane Pinto (undisclosed) are out.
