Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said Blais wouldn't play against Los Angeles but that he hasn't been ruled out for games this weekend.

ST. LOUIS - A day-to-day injury for Sammy Blais will keep him out of the lineup Thursday when the Blues host the Los Angeles Kings at 7 p.m. at Enterprise Center (FSMW, 101 ESPN).

"Just a straight line game. Intensity is the biggest thing for me with him," Berube said of inserting Sanford into the lineup. "When he's intense, he's hard on pucks. He's got good hands, he makes plays, but he's got to be an intense player and be hard on pucks and be a physical player. That's his game."

Alexander Steen will remain on the second line with Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron for the second consecutive game. Berube said he likes the structure Steen brought to that line in Monday's 3-1 win vs. Colorado.

"He's working hard, he's skating really well, Steener is on top of pucks," Berube said. "He's getting to a lot of loose pucks for those guys and getting them the puck. That's the key. The puck needs to be in Perron's hands or O'Reilly's hands more than it was, and I thought last game, they had the puck a lot."

PROJECTED LINEUP

Forwards

Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko

Steen - O'Reilly - Perron

Sanford - Bozak - Thomas

MacEachern - Barbashev - Sundqvist

Defense

Parayko - Pietrangelo

Bouwmeester - Faulk

Dunn - Bortuzzo

Goalie

Binnington