Blues bid to halt slump in encounter vs. Sharks

November 21 - St. Louis Blues top center Robert Thomas returned Tuesday after missing four weeks because of a broken ankle. Thomas quarterbacked the team's top power-play unit, earned an assist and played more than 23 minutes in St. Louis' 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Losers of six of their last seven games (1-5-1), the Blues will try to get back on track Thursday night when they host the San Jose Sharks. "We've got to work harder to get the puck back, as a group, as a whole, as a team, if we want to have the puck more and create more offense," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "That's the No. 1 thing for our guys right now going into the game against San Jose. "We just have to be more committed to working harder, doing the right things to get the puck so we can go on the offense." Bannister reunited Thomas with Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich against the Wild while trying to spark more offense 5-on-5. "I felt good," Thomas said. "My timing was a little bit off. I started getting more comfortable as the game went on." On Oct. 10, Thomas and Kyrou each had two assists and Joel Hofer made 25 saves to help the Blues record a 5-4 overtime victory in San Jose. No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist in that game for the Sharks, getting his NHL career off to a flying start. Celebrini plays on San Jose's second line with Will Smith and veteran Barclay Goodrow. "He's done some really good things, and he's obviously got an elite skill set," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the 18-year-old Celebrini. "He wants the puck, he demands the puck ln the ice, so we had an feeling he'd drive us in a certain way and himself in a certain way." San Jose has been getting strong production from its top line of William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund with veteran Mikael Granlund. In the Sharks' 5-2 loss at Dallas on Wednesday, Granlund scored and set up a goal and Eklund added an assist. "That line has been good, good chemistry," Warsofsky said. "You can see they know each other in the offensive zone. They are doing some really good things. (Granlund) has taken both of those guys under his wing and helped them become really true pros now and take that next step." The Sharks, who are 1-2-2 in their last five games, started Mackenzie Blackwood in goal Wednesday. With Vitek Vanecek sidelined on a day-to-day basis with an upper-body injury, Yaroslav Askarov arrived from the Sharks' American Hockey League in San Jose and served as Blackwood's backup Wednesday. But Vanecek also made the trip, and Warsofsky remained undecided about who to start in goal Thursday against the Blues. Forward Brayden Schenn and defenseman Justin Faulk didn't participate in practice for the Blues on Wednesday. Bannister termed it a "maintenance day" for both and said he expects them to play against the Sharks. Defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph practiced again Wednesday while continuing his comeback from a lower-body injury. Bannister was unsure if he would rejoin the lineup on Thursday. --Field Level Media