McDonald suffered the injury in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Montreal and will be sidelined indefinitely. McDonald crashed into the corner boards awkwardly and was carried off the ice. 

This is going to be a hard injury to swallow for the Blues. The veteran center led the club with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists), but more importantly, he was a strong presence on the ice and in the locker room.

“Andy has been, to this point in the season, our best player,” Blues coach Andy Murray said.

The injury occurred with 1:34 left in the first period, with the Blues leading 1-0. Montreal outshot the Blues 12-7 in the second period and tied the score 1-1 in the second period.

“After Andy’s situation, we seemed to be kind of standing around, wondering what was going to happen next and we didn’t play,” Murray said. “I thought we wasted 20 minutes.”

Asked about Murray’s observation, Blues defenseman Jay McKee said:

Blues center Jay McClement said: “Obviously he’s a big loss. He’s been our best player all year. He logs a lot of minutes up the middle, every situation. It’s a tough loss, but the other guys up the middle have to pick up the slack. You can’t replace a guy like that, but you try to just fill the void.”

Rookie center Patrik Berglund averages 13:52 of ice time per game, but he played 17:29 Sunday (which was an overtime game). Berglund will be counted on more with McDonald out.

“That’s too bad . . . we need every player we have,” Berglund said. “Right now, it’s a lot of injuries. That isn’t good, but we have to keep fighting. We still have a team, we still have guys who can make the play out there. Of course it will be fun to get more ice time, but right now I have to step up my game, too. Today wasn’t a good game for me. I have to find the puck and work harder.”

JR