St. Louis Blues Will be Without Alexander Steen, Carl Gunnarsson Against Florida Panthers
The St. Louis Blues will be without forward Alexander Steen and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson due to injuries on Monday night against the Florida Panthers, as coach Ken Hitchcock announced after Monday’s practice.
Steen will be out for the second straight game with a lower-body injury. As NHL.com’s Lou Korac reported via Twitter, Hitchcock did not seem too concerned about Steen’s injury, other than saying that he “simply wasn’t ready.” Joakim Lindstrom, who replaced him at the last minute on Saturday and ended up contributing three assists, will remain in the lineup and play on a line with Steve Ott and Paul Stastny. Magnus Paajarvi, who was also part of the lineup in Steen’s absence last game, is expected to be replaced by Chris Porter, who will play on the fourth line.
More from St. Louis Blues
- An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
- St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
- St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
- St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
- St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist
Gunnarsson is presumed to have concussion symptoms after sustaining a crushing hit on Saturday against the New York Islanders. He exited that game and did not return. It’s a rough development for Gunnarsson, who already missed the first seven games of this season while completing his recovery from offseason hip surgery.
Gunnarsson will be replaced in the lineup tonight by Ian Cole, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this season on Saturday. In addition, rookie defenseman Petteri Lindbohm will stick in the lineup for his third straight game after being recalled last Thursday.
There was some hope that veteran defenseman Jay Bouwmeester would be ready to return tonight against his former team, but he’ll be out again and will miss his eighth straight game.