There’s a chance the Blues’ power-play personnel could change by the time the team takes the ice against Phildelphia tonight. But if Andy Murray sticks with the units that were practicing together this morning at the Wachovia Center, Paul Kariya won’t be involved on the power play tonight, which is a first in his Blues’ career as far as I can remember.

These were the units that were together this morning:

- Brad Boyes, Keith Tkachuk, Lars Eller, Darryl Sydor and Alex Pietrangelo

- David Perron, David Backes, Patrik Berglund, T.J. Oshie and Erik Johnson

Kariya has been a power-play specialist throughout his 15-year career. He has scored 137 of 388 goals on the power play. His 137 PPG are the seventh most among active players and rank 53rd in NHL history, according to Hockey-reference.com. Also according to Hockey-reference.com, Kariya has been on the ice for 551 power-play goals in his career, which ranks 75th in NHL history.

Of Kariya’s four goals with the Blues this season, one came on the power play, and of his three assists, two were via the power play. Along with Brad Boyes, Kariya had the most PP time (5:05) in Thursday’s 2-1 OT loss to Calgary.

Eller will take Kariya’s spot on the power play. In Thursday’s loss to Calgary, Eller had the Blues’ only goal, which came on the power play. The goal ended a scoring drought of 168-plus minutes and also ended an 0-for-26 spell on the power play.

How much Kariya has been responsible for the Blues’ lack of success on the power play isn’t really clear. But in recent weeks, the team has made several changes on the unit, which currently ranks 25th in the NHL (7-for-48, 14.6 percent).

Again, Kariya’s absence on the power play in today’s practice could be a moot point if he’s on the ice tonight. But not practicing on the unit this morning is notable when considering that Kariya has been on the power play his entire time in St. Louis, and the team is still without one of its top power-play specialists, injured center Andy McDonald.

Is Murray trying to send a message that the coaching staff will get the personnel figured out, even it means sitting out a guy like Kariya? It sure appears that way. I’ll have more on this story later.

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The Blues could make a change or two in their forward combinations tonight, but expect the line of Lars Eller-Patrik Berglund-T.J. Oshie to stay together against the Flyers.

Oshie will continue to double-shift in the spot of Cam Janssen, playing right wing on the line centered by David Backes. After missing four games because of his appedectomy, Oshie double-shifted Thursday and saw 19 minutes, 16 seconds of ice time - a season-high for him.

“I think the more you get out there, the more you get comfortable,” Oshie said. “I’ve been on the other side when you’re not playing as much . . . 10-11 minutes . . . and it’s tough. It’s part of the game, but it’s a lot more fun and a lot easier when you’re in the game quite a bit. Sometimes you feel like you’re maybe a little tired, but you find some energy when you get out there.”

Janssen played only 1:22 Thursday, a mere two shifts, which was a season-low for him. Murray said today that Janssen will see more ice time against Philadelphia.

“The game the other night was one where we had lots of energy,” Murray said. “What Cam does wasn’t as needed because we were playing physical. We kind of got in a rhythm and we were creating scoring chances. But Cam will play more tonight.”

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The Blues were not happy with the penalties they took Thursday against Calgary. They were whistled for six minor penalties, including three hooking penalties against Kariya, Oshie and Keith Tkachuk. There was also a boarding against Brad Winchester and an interference call against B.J. Crombeen.

The penalty-kill unit was good against Calgary, erasing all six of the Flames’ power plays. But the Blues’ PK unit will have to bring its “A” game the next two nights. Philadelphia is tied for No. 1 on the power play in the NHL, with 16 goals on 59 opportunities (27.1 percent). Also tied for No. 1 is Sunday’s opponent, Atlanta, which has converted 13 of 48 chances.

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Andy McDonald (upper body) and Barret Jackman (ankle) aren’t expected to play tonight, but they are very close to returning. In fact, Murray said today that he’s just waiting for them to say they’re OK to play.

“They could come in (Sunday) and tell us they could play . . . they haven’t today,” he said. “As soon as they say they’re in, they’re in. To be honest, I don’t ask them. I told them both before, ‘Tell me when you’re ready to go.’ I respect them as veterans. They’re going to tell me when they’re ready to play. ‘Jacks’ is enough of a competitor, he wants to be in there, and Andy is the same way. They’re close.”

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Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo is now listed as a healthy scratch, according to Murray. Colaiacovo missed the last four games with the flu and he has needed the last couple of practice days to get into shape. Murray said that Colaiacovo is available, but now he needs to play his way back into the lineup.

“I thought they (Colaiacovo and Mike Weaver) were our two best defensemen in Stockholm . . . I shouldn’t still be talking about those games,” Murray said, suggesting that Colaiacovo and Weaver haven’t played as well since.

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Chris Mason is expected to be in goal tonight for the Blues. The team may follow up with Ty Conklin Sunday in Atlanta, but if Mason plays well, he could get the nod in back-to-back games.

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I’ll close today with a locker room prank played on Kariya.

Earlier this week, there were tables of Blues merchandise (jerseys, pucks, sticks, etc.) laying out for the players to sign before the stuff gets shipped off to charities.

Well, one of the players (No. 7) thought it would be funny to put Kariya’s game-ready sticks on the tables, so that they would get signed.

An unsuspecting Kariya went bananas when he made his way down the table and realized that his sticks were laying out, covered with autographs.

“Paul is notorious for spending a lot of time to get his sticks ready . . . very meticulous,” Blues equipment manager Bert Godin said. “They’re precision-cut and measured . . . he just spends a lot of time . . . and everybody knows that if they mess with his stuff, he just can’t understand that.”

Some of Kariya’s teammates were looking on when he finally made his way to his sticks and realized the prank. Everyone got a big laugh, except Kariya.

“He was like, ‘Who put those out there?’” Godin said.

The sticks were donated to the Blues’ 14 Fund.

JR