Jay McKee out with bruised foot; Roman Polak recalled

Blues defenseman Jay McKee suffered a bruised right foot in the team’s 7-3 loss to Calgary last night and he will not be in the lineup tonight. McKee, who was limping this morning as he left the rink, is listed as day-to-day. The Blues have recalled defenseman Roman Polak from Peoria to replace McKee tonight. (Steve Wagner, who is recovering from a broken leg, has not began practicing in Peoria).

Keith Tkachuk will also miss his second straight game tonight with a sore left shoulder. I’m expecting Yan Stasny to return to the lineup tonight, making Martin Rucinsky a healthy scratch.

Monday’s game in Calgary turned quickly on the Blues, who were blown out after cutting their deficit to 3-2 in the second period.

Matthew Lombardi netted a short-handed goal against the Blues in the second period, and the Flames went on to rout the Blues after that. It was the ninth shorthanded goal of the season against the Blues, and the Flames later added another (with an empty-net) to make it 10 shorties against this season. That’s the second-highest total in the NHL.

The Blues altered their power play Monday by mixing up the personnel and keeping just one player (defenseman Erik Johnson) back at the point. Some of you were wary about that formation going into the game, and it did end up backfiring on the team last night. The puck was on the side of forward Brad Boyes, who had to defend Lombardi down the ice.

“I wish I could put my finger on the cause,” said Blues forward David Backes, who scored the Blues’ power-play goal in the first period. “We’re semi-taking a risk by having only one d-man out there. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on scoring goals lately and kind of pushing a little bit, maybe taking a few more chances than we need to. But give them credit. That Lombardi’s got some good wheels and he had good finish on that play.”

Andy Murray’s take on the shorthanded goal after the game: “That’s Matthew Lombardi, one of the fastest guys in the league attacking a forward on the blue-line, who we have playing the point. We don’t have any support coming back to help. I’ve seen Matthew do that before.”

The shorthanded goal came against backup goalie Hannu Toivonen, who allowed three goals on 18 shots. Toivonen, who hadn’t played with the Blues in 30 days, didn’t seem to make a great effort on the shorthanded goal, and he didn’t look real sharp on at least one of the other goals against. (The third against Toivonen went off Jeff Woywitka’s stick).

I don’t know where the future is going with Toivonen. I would suspect that he’s playing his way out of the team’s plans for next season.

So why was Manny Legace pulled in the first place? He was yanked with the Blues trailing 3-1 after one period. He allowed three goals on 11 shots, but all three of the goals went off his own defensemen.

No. 1 by Tanguay went off Brewer’s stick

No. 2 by Huselius went off McKee’s leg

No. 3 by Iginla went off Brewer’s pants

The Blues felt that Legace wasn’t looking sharp and, looking at the big picture, they wanted Toivonen to play either Monday or tonight. So they put Toivonen in to start the second period and held Legace out so that he could start tonight.

“We didn’t think our team was playing well defensively,” Murray said after the game. “It was a decision made at that point, with the score 3-1, to try to get a spark to put him in there and put Manny in the game against Edmonton.”

Legace didn’t agree with leaving the game. “I was shocked,” Legace said. “I didn’t think I deserved (to be pulled). I thought I made some pretty big saves. After the second goal, I thought I made three or four good saves. It wasn’t like I was playing bad. . . . That’s their decision. You’d have to ask them what they were thinking, what they’re thought process was. They never talked to me about it. Maybe they have more behind it than I know. It stinks when you get pulled. I hate it. I’d rather stay in there and lose 6-0 or 7-0 than get pulled. But some nights you deserve. I didn’t think tonight was one of them.”

There were few bright spots for the Blues. Murray said they had 17 scoring chances, but only three goals.

“The Perron-Boyes-Kariya line was effective,” Murray said. “I thought they had lots of ofefnsive zone time. I thought Paul was around the puck more last night. He didn’t show any shots on the score sheet, but I thought he was around the puck more. I thought David was real effective. Brad had two goals, but could have had five. So that line was effective.”

Boyes scored Nos. 35 and 36 last night, giving him back-to-back, two-goal games. What’s he doing better lately?

“I think he’s skating better,” Murray said. “He told me from the day he got here. He told me, ‘Coach, make sure you stay on me to keep my legs moving.’ I am consistently on him about that. I think his legs have been moving. He’s coming back and stealing pucks, getting in the lane. I think he’s been skating better.”

Boyes’ line will remain in tact tonight. The others will be shuffled as Murray inserts Stastny and takes out Rucinsky.

Speaking of Rucinsky, several of us in the media wondered if Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff could have gotten a four-minute minor for throwing the puck at Rucinsky’s face last night. After all, Rucinsky did bleed. Well, Murray told us that the officials told him that only happens with a stick violation. The most the refs could do under the rules was assess a five-minute major for throwing the puck, and the officials told Murray that they didn’t feel a major was warranted.

One final note: Ben Bishop will sign an amateur contract with the Blues today and join the Peoria Rivermen for the rest of the season. Good luck to Ben!

JR