ST. LOUIS – Add Alexey Toropchenkos Add names to minor injuries list.

The forward will miss Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes (2-1-0) at 6 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN101.1-FM) due to a lower-body injury.

In his place Nathan Walkerwho was a healthy scratch in Thursday’s 1-0 overtime win against the New York Islanders will fill in.

“He is battling a small lower body injury. But since we have so many healthy forwards, we want to make sure he is at 100 percent because we also have other guys who are at 100 percent right now,” says Blue’s coach Drew Bannister said from Toropchenko. “I don’t think it will be something long-term. It’s probably a day-to-day thing for him at the moment, but we want to make sure he’s healthy when he returns to play.”

The Blues (3-2-0) can afford to allow guys to heal from minor bumps and bruises with the depth the lineup has and guys they feel comfortable stepping in and playing with, like Walker.

“It’s still early in the season,” Bannister said. “We don’t want too many things left behind. Coming out of training camp, certain things are always going to be left behind, whether it’s the groin, the hip flexors or the abdominals. I’m sure every team has to go through that.” Normally it takes 10, 15, 20 games for the players to get through it to some extent. But with the healthy bodies and certainly with our depth, we want to make sure we can keep those nicks and dents secret and get rid of them as quickly as possible.”

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defender Nick Leddy remains sidelined with a lower-body injury, meaning he will miss a second straight game and may miss Tuesday as well.

“We haven’t seen much improvement from him,” Bannister said. “He will definitely be out tonight. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but since the improvement we expected in two days hasn’t happened, I think Tuesday night might be a question.”

Forward Oskar Sundqvist (ACL) and Alexandre Texier (Upper body) skated again and continue to prepare to be activated, but that won’t be the case tonight.

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goalie Joel Hofer will make his second straight start tonight after posting a 34-save shutout performance on Thursday in which he also picked up an assist on the game-winner.

Hofer is 2-0-0 this season, with a goals-against average of 1.98 and a save percentage of .937.

“He definitely played great and both goalies played well,” Bannister said. “I think it also gives us the opportunity to give ‘Binner’ a little more rest. He will play a lot for us. He will be playing a lot of hockey this year. I think we just see it as an opportunity to go with Joel, but also an opportunity to give Binner a little rest before we go on tour and go to different cities.”

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The Hurricanes are coming off a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday and are playing what is likely to be their second straight game Pyotr Kochetkov will be in goal after Frederik Andersen made 25 saves on Friday.

“They are who they are, right? They’re a functioning team, they skate,” Bannister said of the Hurricanes. “They are a team that always comes at you. Their defense changed a little bit, but the way they played didn’t change. The aggressiveness, their forwards are big, strong, they want to wear you down, there will be a lot of pucks in our net. This is a team that passes a lot of pucks. We have to be physically strong, we have to be strong on the walls We have to be good in front, we have to get into the shooting lane, we have to win races here to score pucks. We have to be ready to skate here and we have to use that ability to skate to match its intensity and physicality. They came from an away game last night and will come here to really utilize our skills. We also need to access bodies and slow them down. We have to find ways to slow them down through the neutral zone.

It will be a slightly different game than Thursday, when the Blues played a disciplined Islanders group and had to play a patient game.

“Fast, aggressive and one of those games where you have to go in and expect you won’t get many free attacks,” said the Blues captain Brayden Schenn said from Carolina. “They play the right way, they are there for each other and that is what has made them a good team for so many years. They are well trained and have played together. We have to expect to come in and wear each other down.” one out.

With the Blues offense currently struggling with two goals in two games since returning home, they may face another tough game.

“We’re a little bit striving to score at the moment and we know that, but as long as we play good defense and limit our chances, there will be goals,” Schenn said. “We feel like we’re not giving up much as a team at the moment. We just have to stick to the program a little bit and then we will score goals.”

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Zack Bolduc remains committed to staying in St. Louis after another strong game on Thursday.

Bolduc has only one assist in four games but made his presence felt with a physical element to his style.

“I think I played well,” Bolduc said. “Of course you always want to create more offense, score a few goals and make a few plays, but it was a tough game. There wasn’t much time and space. I think I went there to compete. I was physically strong last game, but I think that’s what I can do and I want to incorporate it into my game.

“I’ve gotten some looks, I’m making plays. I think I’m playing well, but things just aren’t flowing and my passes aren’t working. I just have to move on and I’m pretty sure I’m going to turn around.

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Expected Blues line-up:

Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Zack Bolduc-Pavel Buchnevich-Jake Neighbors

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Mathieu Joseph

Nathan Walker-Radek Faksa-Kasperi Kapanen

Ryan Suter-Colton Parayko

Philip Broberg-Justin Faulk

PO Joseph-Matthew Kessel

Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Scott Perunovich. Nick Leddy (lower body), Alexey Toropchenko (lower body), Alexandre Texier (upper body), Oskar Sundqvist (knee) and Torey Krug (Ankles) are out.

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Expected Hurricanes lineup:

Andrei Svechnikov-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Jack Roslovic-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Jordan Martinook-Jordan Staal-William Carrier

Eric Robinson-Jack Drury-Jackson Blake

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Shayne Gostisbehere-Sean Walker

Dmitry Orlov-Jalen Chatfield

Pyotr Kochetkov expected to start in goal; Frederik Andersen would be the backup.

The healthy scratch includes Ty Smith. Riley Stillman (Lower body) is out.

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