After missing two games with a groin injury, center Derek Roy was back in the lineup for the Blues on Thursday night, centering a line with Brenden Morrow and Steve Ott. It was also a chance for coach Ken Hitchcock to cast a critical eye at the group.

The set has a lot to offer for the team, with experienced players well suited for the grind of playoff hockey. Roy and Morrow were offseason signings and Ott came in the Ryan Miller trade.

“They’ve played three times together,” Hitchcock said prior to the game with the Wild, “and all three games they’ve played really well together. They’re three veteran guys who know how to read off each other. I want to see it play consistently well before we evaluate whether we’ll stay with it or not. I’m not 100 percent sure yet. They’re showing flashes of playing well together, but for whatever reason, whether it’s injuries or we needed help somewhere else, they’ve gotten broken up.

“For that line to work, it has to be consistent. I think they get a lot of grind chances, but then what do you give up? If you’re getting three or four quality chances and giving up the same, that’s not going to work. They have to give up as little as they can and get the chances that I know all three of them are going to get for it to work.”