Game Day: Sammy Blais returns to Blues lineup as they face road-weary Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. — For the second straight game, the Blues will face a team coming home after a long road trip.

They hope Thursday in Sunrise against the Panthers goes better than Tuesday in Tampa against the Lightning.

The Panthers are back home after a five-game road trip through Columbus, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, a trip they went 2-3-0 on. They host the Blues on Thursday and the Golden Knights on Saturday.

Asked what his Blues team could take advantage of with Florida coming home after a long trip, interim coach Drew Bannister responded “so did Tampa.”

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to be ready to play,” Bannister said. “Tampa came out and outplayed us in the first period, so that can’t happen again. We’ve got to be ready, right from the drop of the puck. Obviously, the drills that we did today are trying to get us more engaged early on in the game and competing and making sure we’re doing the right things.”

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The Lightning were also coming off a five-game trip, and they jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the Blues in the first period before cruising to a 6-1 win.

Thursday will be the first meeting of the season between the Blues and Panthers, but St. Louis has won its last three games against Florida, most recently a 6-2 win on Feb. 14.

Florida is led by Sam Reinhart (39 points in 31 games) and Aleksander Barkov (30 points in 28 games). Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in goal.

“Heavy forechecking team, really disciplined in the way they play,” Bannister said. “They’re big and they’re strong and it’s going to be a good test for us. We’re going to have to be ready to start on time here tomorrow. We’re going to have to be up for the challenge.”

— Goaltender Joel Hofer will start for the Blues, who will reinsert Sammy Blais in the lineup on the fourth line in Hugh McGing’s place. McGing was sent down to AHL affiliate Springfield on Wednesday.

Blais was a healthy scratch in five of the last six games.

— The Blues did not hold a morning skate on Thursday.

Projected Blues lineup at Florida on Thursday, 6 p.m.

Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Jordan Kyrou

Jake Neighbours – Brayden Schenn – Kasperi Kapanen

Brandon Saad – Kevin Hayes – Alexey Toropchenko

Mackenzie MacEachern – Oskar Sundqvist – Sammy Blais

Nick Leddy – Colton Parayko

Torey Krug – Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella – Tyler Tucker

Scratches: Nikita Alexandrov, Scott Perunovich.

Projected Panthers lineup vs. St. Louis

Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Kevin Stenlund – Nick Cousins

Ryan Lomberg – Steven Lorentz – Will Lockwood

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov

Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich (illness), Josh Mahura.

Injured reserve: Anton Lundell (illness).

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