Injured Blues defenseman Justin Faulk is making progress but will not play Tuesday when the Blues host the Panthers, interim coach Drew Bannister said after practice on Monday.
Bannister said Faulk skated over the weekend, but he was not on the ice for the team’s practice on Monday morning. He could rejoin the team on Tuesday at morning skate. Faulk has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury suffered against Colorado on Dec. 29.
“Good progress, but it’s still kind of day to day until we get him on the ice in a full practice situation, he wouldn’t be available to us,†Bannister said. “So we’ll see how that goes day to day here right now. For the time being, he wouldn’t be available until he skated full with us.â€
Faulk was hurt in the final minute of the loss to the Avalanche when he fell awkwardly with his left leg twisted under his body. He has not been on the ice with the team since then. Faulk is currently on injured reserve but is eligible to return to action whenever he is ready.
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Without Faulk, the Blues have used rookie Matthew Kessel on the second pair with Torey Krug in all three games. In each game, Kessel has gained more and more responsibility.
Against Pittsburgh, he logged 14:32 of ice time. Then, it was a career-high 17:59 against Vancouver, and then, another new career-high 19:43 on Saturday in Carolina.
“He’s played very well,†Bannister said of Kessel. “I think he’s matured a lot in his game. We saw a lot of strides within his game this year. I think it’s starting to translate to the National Hockey League level. We’ve seen that over the last three games, for sure.â€
Kessel was originally a fifth-round pick in 2020. The 23-year-old is in his second full professional season after playing three seasons of college hockey at UMass.
On Saturday night, Kessel was part of a Blues defensive corps that snapped a pair of six-game point streaks on the Carolina side. Sebastian Aho (16 points) and Andrei Svechnikov (14 points) came into the game on fire, but both exited without a point.
“It’s the group as a whole,†Bannister said. “I think our D have been really good on closing space. I’ve felt like we’ve been pretty aggressive below the goal line and our net-front, allowing our goaltending to see the puck. Then again, our goaltending has been really good, too.â€
In the Blues’ 10 games under Bannister, they have allowed just 2.37 goals per 60 minutes at five on five, which ranks 10th in the NHL across that span (their save percentage is 12th). They’ve allowed six five-on-five goals in the past five games.
“There were some habits in our game defensively that we had to clean up just to make sure we had more layers to our game, especially in the middle of the ice, and protecting the higher-danger areas,†Bannister said. “I think we’re getting to a spot where we like where we are, but we still think there’s areas in our game, whether it’s on exits or in D-zone coverage when we’re coming, that we can still be better at.â€
In the 28 games before Bannister took over, the Blues allowed 2.95 goals per 60 minutes at five on five, which was the fifth-worst mark in the league despite the goaltending posting the 15th-ranked save percentage at five on five.
“I’ve found that a lot of the guys were anticipating the offensive side before we had good control of the puck, which opened up the slot a lot for us,†Bannister said. “I just wanted the guys to not anticipate the puck going on the offense, and anticipate more of the defensive side. The offense will come, we’ve got to make sure we clean our in-zone first and then work on moving the puck forward here as we go.â€
Lineup tweaks
There were minor adjustments to the Blues forward lines on Monday morning, as Jakub Vrana skated on the wing with Kevin Hayes and Kasperi Kapanen, while Alexey Toropchenko was on the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker.
During Saturday’s game in Carolina, Vrana moved up to play with Hayes and Kapanen at times after starting the game on the fourth line. Sammy Blais skated as the extra forward, meaning he could be a healthy scratch again on Tuesday against Florida.