Blues look to hit reset button at home vs. Red Wings

 

[December 12, 2023]  The road-weary St. Louis Blues hope to regroup during their three-game homestand this week.

That effort will start Tuesday when they host the depleted Detroit Red Wings. The Blues played 11 of their previous 15 games on the road.

St. Louis lost four of its last five games to slip to 13-13-1. That downturn set the team's focus for the week.

"Hit the reset button, come home, get some wins and start stringing together wins," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "Just build our game. That's the big thing. Start building our game, get a win, start building."

The Blues' offense is generating plenty of shot attempts and shots on goal. St. Louis outshot the Columbus Blue Jackets 43-22 in a 5-2 loss on Friday and the Chicago Blackhawks 39-24 in a 3-1 loss on Saturday.

"We've had shot volume, we've had some second and third looks," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "Obviously we have to find a way to get to the net more often. We have to find a way to make it harder on other teams' goalies. That's the reality of it."

The Blues promoted winger Hugh McGing from AHL Springfield after the Columbus loss and put him in the lineup in Chicago. He finished with a minus-3 rating in 7:58 of ice time.

St. Louis might make another roster move ahead of the Red Wings game, as former Detroit winger Jakub Vrana was held out of practice Monday amid speculation that he would be waived or traded.

"Last year, he came in and produced from an offensive standpoint," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "You can't look at that, though, from last year to this year. It's two different years. Coming in when he came in last year, I think there's nothing to lose, you just go play. I think our team was at that point. He scored some goals and did some good things. This year, it's been a struggle."

Vrana scored 10 goals in 20 games after joining the Blues last season in a March trade. However, he has scored just twice in 19 games this season.

The Red Wings fell to the Stars 6-3 on Monday night in Dallas, running their losing streak to three games (0-2-1). And they came to St. Louis short-handed.

Detroit placed three forwards on injured reserve Monday: Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and former Blues winger Klim Kostin. In addition, former Blues winger David Perron was suspended six games by the NHL for cross-checking Senators defenseman Artem Zub in the head on Saturday.

The Red Wings summoned Zach Aston-Reese, Jonatan Berggren and Austin Czarnik from AHL of under emergency conditions.

"I challenge anyone in the league to lose those type of players and still be competitive," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said after those roster moves were made. But, he added, "I think we still have a competitive lineup."

Larkin faces an uncertain recovery after being knocked unconscious in the Saturday game.

"I think we'll know more as time goes on," Lalonde said. "To see him down unconscious, what goes through your head and obviously his past history, to see him go off the ice with some assistance and not through the stretcher was a positive. We'll know more in the next few days."

Compher is nursing an upper-body injury, while Kostin has been fighting an illness.

--Field Level Media

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