CHICAGO — Now that the fun is over, it’s time for business for the St. Louis Blues.
The 2025 Discover NHL Winter Classic from Wrigley Field is here and after a day of soaking up the atmosphere of being in an iconic ballpark with family and friends on the ice with them following an early evening practice on Monday, it’s time for the Blues (17-17-4) to get down to business and keep a struggling Chicago Blackhawks (12-23-2) down, a team which has lost four in a row.
Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. (TNT, ESPN 101.1-FM).
“One of the No. 1 things I’ve heard about these games is it’s almost like a playoff game in the middle of the season,” Blues forward Jake Neighbours said. “Just the intensity. Obviously the stage is big. Everybody’s watching. Both teams want to win. You don’t want to be embarrassed on live television.
“It’s going to be an intense game. We know that. We understand. We’re preparing for that. [Monday] was about enjoying it, enjoying the sights, spend time with our family and our teammates and just soaking it in together. When we get here on [Tuesday], it’s all business.”
The key for Blues coach Jim Montgomery was allowing the players to have that time with their family and friends on Monday to have positive vibes and good feelings before shifting focus to the matter at hand of trying to win a hockey game.
“You have to enjoy every second of it. One, you have to embrace the moment,” Montgomery said. “You have to enjoy every second of it because this doesn’t happen very often. I believe if your mindset’s in the right place and you’re in a place of gratitude, I think you’re going to play a great game. You’re going to go out there, you’re going to want to compete, you’re going to want that puck because in your head, you’re already in a positive mindset. It’s about what we can do and what we’re going to do.”
The Blues are currently four points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference but have played more games than those ahead of them. That’s why this game is important to them.
“It is business,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “At the end of the day, we need two points. We need two points to try and keep climbing up. We let one slide last game, but at the end of the day, today was probably more of experience of enjoying the day, but when you get out there, I think tomorrow is more so taking it all in and just enjoying the whole thing.”
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Blues defenseman Cam Fowler will dress in his 1,000th NHL game today becoming the first player to play an outdoor game hitting the 1,000 mark.
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Blues Projected Lineup:
Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko-Nathan Walker-Alexandre Texier
Cam Fowler-Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Mathieu Joseph and Scott Perunovich. Radek Faksa (lower body) and Nick Leddy (lower body) are out. Torey Krug (ankle) is on the trip but obviously out for the season.
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Blackhawks Projected Lineup:
Taylor Hall-Connor Bedard-Tyler Bertuzzi
Nick Foligno-Jason Dickinson-Ryan Donato
Teuvo Teravainen-Frank Nazar-Ilya Mikheyev
Pat Maroon-Lukas Reichel-Craig SmithÂ
Alex Vlasic-Seth Jones
Connor Murphy-TJ BrodieÂ
Nolan Allan-Louis CrevierÂ
Petr Mrazek will start in goal; Arvid Soderblom will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nolan Allen, Joey Anderson and Philip Kurashev. Alec Martinez (neck) and Laurent Brossoit (knee) are out.
