St Louis Blues Face Road Test in Anaheim After Overtime Win
st louis blues will need to manage line rotations and player availability on the road, changing who skates and how often in Sunday’s matchup. 9: 00 a. m. ET — that need follows a 3-2 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks that left the Blues short a regular defenseman and using an abbreviated roster.
St Louis Blues projected lineup shifts and player availability
The Blues will skate with the lines listed for the trip, but personnel constraints are now shaping usage: Dylan Holloway, Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud lead a top line while Alexey Toropchenko, Jack Finley and Oskar Sundqvist appear on the fourth. Parayko did not play in the 3-2 overtime win because of a back injury and is considered day to day; the Blues used 13 forwards and five defensemen in that game. Scratches include Justin Holl, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan Walker, which narrows coach rotation options and pressures those five defensemen to log heavier minutes.
Anaheim Ducks projected lines put Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier at center of attack
The Ducks counter with a forward group headlined by Chris Kreider, Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier on one line and Alex Killorn, Mikael Granlund and Beckett Sennecke on another, giving Anaheim multiple scoring looks to match against the Blues. Granlund will return after missing six games with an upper-body injury he sustained while playing for Team Finland in the bronze medal game on Feb. 21 at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. Injuries on the Ducks’ roster include Troy Terry (upper body) and John Carlson (lower body); Carlson, a defenseman acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Thursday, will miss his fifth straight game.
Odds, records and recent form raise stakes for both teams before March 8
Betting lines and recent results frame the matchup: the Blues enter as +150 underdogs against the Ducks at -175 with a game total set at 6. 5 and the Under listed at -115. St. Louis holds a 24-29-9 overall record and a 10-17-3 mark on the road; the Blues carry a -48 scoring differential, having scored 161 goals while allowing 209. Anaheim sits at 35-24-3 overall and is 22-9-1 at home, with a 12-4-3 record in one-goal games. Recent form diverges — the Ducks have won nine of their last 10 games, while the Blues have won the first three games of their current road trip.
Still, the projected lines and the odds create clear matchups to watch: Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich are listed among the Blues’ top scorers and will draw defensive attention from the Ducks’ top forwards, while Cutter Gauthier’s streak of scoring and Leo Carlsson’s totals position Anaheim to press the Blues’ shortened defensive corps.
That said, special teams and availability are immediate wildcards. The Blues used a reduced defensive lineup in the overtime win and are pressing depth forwards into larger roles; the Ducks will have Granlund back after his Olympic absence but will be without Carlson and Terry, altering their defensive and power-play options.
Coaches must adapt matchups and minutes in real time: with scratches and day-to-day designations on both rosters, lines expected on paper may look different once the puck drops, and bench deployment will determine whether the early-game tempo favors Anaheim’s scoring depth or St. Louis’ recent road-trip momentum.
The matchup on Sunday, March 8 is the next confirmed event on the schedule (game time not provided). If the Blues extend their current road-trip win streak to four, they will finish the trip with one more victory by the end of the game and change immediate questions about roster deployment heading into the next set of matchups.
