Blues forward Keith Tkachuk was on the ice Sunday, which was one of the Andy Murray’s requirements for Tkachuk to play Monday against Boston.

Tkachuk, of course, has been ailing since his collision in Calgary last week. The Blues are calling it an upper-body injury.

After Sunday’s practice, Murray said: “As long as he feels good, his body feels good, he will play tomorrow.”

I talked to Tkachuk briefly after practice and he said he was feeling “just OK.”

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Defenseman Roman Polak suffered a broken foot in the third period of Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Chicago. He will be out four to six weeks.

He played six or seven shifts AFTER breaking his foot, including playing in overtime.

“I didn’t know about it,” Murray said. “Somebody said (after the game), ‘What do you think about Polak?’ I said, ‘I thought he was great tonight.’ They said, ‘No, he broke his foot.’ I said, ‘He did what?’ I had no idea. He’s a warrior.”

The Blues have called up Steve Wagner from Peoria.

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Polak was not wearing the skate guards that Blues defenseman Jay McKee has made popular on the team. It’s a protective guard that goes on your skate and takes some of the punishment from the puck away.

“I see more and more guys wearing them around the league,” McKee said. “If you would have looked five or six years ago, I don’t know if anybody would be wearing them. Now Chris Pronger’s got them on all the time. Probably himself and myself, we just learned through experience, guys now shoot the puck harder than ever. I couldn’t imagine not wearing them. If you can take 10 percent, 15 percent off a shot – I think the one I put on my feet can take 30-40 percent off a shot at times. Roman is still young. Once he gets up to 200-300 games in the league, he might think it’s worth it.”

JR