Vladimir Tarasenko will not play for the Blues on Wednesday night against Boston, the second full game he'll miss.
Tarasenko took a hit to the head in Saturday's game against the Rangers and finished the first period. Though the injury has the hallmarks of a concussion, the Blues are describing it only as an upper-body injury.
With Tarasenko out, the Blues will start with Alexander Steen in his spot on the top line with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz. Steen played there for much of the Chicago game on Sunday.
"The guy that comes in and plays the best right now is Steener," Schenn said. "He does a heck of a job. We know what he's going to do. He's going to win every battle possible, he's strong on the wall, he sees guys really well to make plays. We feel he's a good piece to our line right now."
Mike Yeo said Tarasenko is still listed as day to day. He didn't take part in the pregame skate on Wednesday.
UPSHALL SKATES
Left wing Scottie Upshall, who hasn't played since March 3 because of a knee injury, was on the ice with the team in practice and could be back in action soon. The initial diagnosis of an MCL sprain said he would be out four weeks, so he's ahead of schedule.
"It's feeling good," Upshall said. "It feels really good. I've been working hard to get back. It's obviously a huge time of year where having bodies in the lineup -- healthy bodies -- are crucial. It was a tough injury but I've been working real hard to get back with the training staff and the coaches to get back."
"He's getting close," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "We'll see here but he may be ready to join us for practice, but obviously I still have to talk to the trainers. But talking to Scottie after practice, he feels good, he looks good out there. That's good news."
Upshall wasn't sure how quickly he could be back in a game.
"I'm just kind of taking it day to day," he said. "The training staff hasn't really cleared me with the doctors for contact yet. But today was a good skate. I've got to be able to skate and play physical, so today was a good test to see where I'm at and things looked good."
LINES
Blues
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Alexander Steen
Vladimir Sobotka-Kyle Brodziak-Patrik Berglund
Dmitrij Jaskin-Ivan Barbashev-Tage Thompson
Nikita Soshnikov-Oskar Sundqvist-Chris Thorburn
Defensemen
Carl Gunnarsson-Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn-Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson-Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie
Jake Allen
BRUINS
Forwards
Brad Marchand -- Riley Nash -- David Pastrnak
Ryan Donato -- David Krejci -- Danton Heinen
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Tommy Wingels
Jordan Szwarz -- Noel Acciari -- Brian Gionta
Defensemen
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Nick Holden -- Adam McQuaid
Goalie
Anton Khudobin
Tuukka Rask
Scratched: Paul Postma
Injured: Rick Nash (upper body), Zdeno Chara (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (upper body), Patrice Bergeron (foot), Charlie McAvoy (sprained MCL), David Backes (leg laceration)
PLAYOFF MATH
The Blues start the day in fourth place in the Western Conference wild-card race. Colorado leads with 88 points, then Anaheim with 86, Dallas with 84 and the Blues with 83. Anaheim is the only other team in that group active tonight, as they start a four-game Canada swing in Calgary in a game that starts 90 minutes after the Blues.
The Blues have one more game left on their schedule than Anaheim does, and in a best-case scenario, a Blues win and a Ducks regulation loss, the Blues would be one point back. Though, because the Pacific Division is so tight, if the Ducks win, they'll move back into third in the Pacific and the Kings will drop into the wild-card picture. Since the Kings are off tonight, the Blues will be no more than four points out of a wild-card spot after tonight.
Hockeyviz.com has the Blues at 47 percent probability of making the playoffs. Right now, the site forecasts the Ducks as finishing with 95.8 points and getting the last wild card. (The Blues project to 94.0.) So to get to 96 points, the Blues have to get 13 points out of their final 10 games, which translates to 6-3-1. Moneypuck.com, which has been more bullish on the Blues hopes all along, has the Blues at 51.7 percent for the playoffs.
What it comes down to is this: How likely is it the Blues can close the season 7-3? Four of their next five opponents, Boston, Columbus, San Jose and Vegas, are all playoff teams with more points than the Blues. There's also a game with Washington on the schedule. The Blues can afford to lose only three of those games, and that assumes they beat Chicago twice, a suddenly hot Arizona (6-3-1 in its past 10) and Colorado on the final day of the season.
BEAT UP BRUINS
As the lines above indicate, the Bruins have a lot of players out of the lineup right now, specifically six of their top 12 scorers, with Bergeron (27-27) topping the list.
"They're really good," Yeo said. "They're rally fast, dangerous on the attack, put you on your heels. I think they've got a really good north mentality. They've got speed but they also may appear even faster than what they are. I know they've got guys out of the lineup. Look at guys they've got out, but look at (David) Krejci, look at (Brad) Marchand, the level of play their veterans are giving them. Their young players have been really, really impressive. The way they're able to make plays, the way they're able to create off the rush in the offensive zone, the way they attack, it has a tendency to put you on your heels and that's tough to stand up to."
Jim Thomas contributed to this report.
