(1-14-23) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Leddy, who has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury, returned to the ice on Thursday during the morning skate before the Blues faced the Calgary Flames.

Blues coach Craig Berube didn't want to completely rule Leddy in 100 percent but by all indications, the veteran with 11 assists in 39 games is set to return after the Blues assigned Dmitri Samorukov to Springfield of the American Hockey League.

"I think we'll see how he is tomorrow after practice today, like a full practice, but he was fine. He looked good," Berube said of Leddy. "I guess tomorrow morning will tell, will be a big tell sign."

The Blues, 1-1-0 on their season-long seven game homestand, practiced in full on Friday and had a pair of lefties on the third pair with Tyler Tucker and Calle Rosen, leaving Steven Santini as the extra defenseman.

"I think Tuck's given us good minutes," Berube said. "He's a certain type of player that is important in the lineup with his physical play and playing hard defense. We like the energy he brings. We'd like to keep him going.

"It goes a long way, playing important minutes and important games."

Getting Leddy back will give the Blues a more polished look to their top two pairs.

"He's played a lot of good games," Berube said. "When he's skating, he's a very effective player, skating the puck out of our zone, skating it through the neutral zone creating stuff that way. There's been a lot of good games where he's done a real good job of it."

There's been a better look when Leddy and Faulk are together, ever since the coaching staff made the change recently.

"They've got a good relationship obviously off the ice and on the ice and I think that they're together a lot," Berube said. "I think that they just work well together moving the puck and they both can get up in the play and create that way and break the puck out of our zone. Both of them have the ability to escape people 1-on-1 and skate the puck out of the zone."

The same goes for Colton Parayko and Niko Mikkola, who were paired together when Leddy and Faulk were paired up.

"Yeah for the most part, I think they've done a pretty good job," Berube said. "I think Colton's doing a good job of eluding people in our zone and skating the puck out of there. They're just a big pair that are hard to play against."

* Like a good Neighbour(s) -- Forward Jake Neighbours, a native of Calgary, scored against his hometown team Thursday that tied the game 1-1 in the third period before the Blues fell 4-1.

If it was in a win, it probably would have meant something, but his third NHL goal perhaps means something to those closer to him.

"Probably to my family, yeah, a little bit more than myself, but it's obviously pretty cool the hometown team," Neighbours said after the game. "I went to a lot of games growing up. Pretty cool to say I got one against them."

Neighbours played an NHL career-high 16:01, besting his previous mark of 16:00 against the New York Islanders on Nov. 3.

"He was very good," Berube said. "I've liked his game so far since he's been up here for the most part. I know he doesn't get a ton of minutes all the time, but he's been an effective player. His energy and his work ethic and strong on pucks, forechecking, pretty good details for a young kid."

* Letting it get away -- The Blues made two critical errors with the game on the line that cost them in their loss against the Flames on Thursday.

First, Robert Thomas' hoister from the corner defensive zone through the middle of the ice was intercepted before Dillon Dube scored the first of his two third-period goals at 10:50 to give Calgary the lead for good, then Faulk's turnover from behind his own net resulted in Blake Coleman's backhand goal from the slot for a 3-1 lead at 16:04.

"Last night, we were right there. It's 1-1," Berube said. "We were doing what we needed to do. We kept things to the outside for the most part and we've got to continue to do that. We didn't give up 2-on-1's or breakaways or things like that. We kept people in front of us. We should have been more patient and not force things in the third period, and if we did that, who knows. You go into overtime, we might win another game in OT.

"We've got to win these tight games and it's playoff hockey almost now. It starts now. There's teams fighting for spots on the standings and Calgary is one of them. We've got a team coming here tomorrow. They're battling, they're fighting. It's going to be a tight game. There's not going to be a lot of room out there. You've got to fight for space and you've got to be patient. It may not come that shift so you just work and keep working and keep doing the same things and you'll get a break here or there, make a play and maybe get a goal. We've got to be better at that.

"Don't force things. Just make the easy plays and understand that situations, the pressure, where it's coming from, where the ice is. It might be behind them so you put it deep and you go to work. There might be times where you have room and space and you can make something happen."

* Tarasenko skates -- Berube confirmed forward Vladimir Tarasenko skated this morning, on his own, prior to practice.

Tarasenko is nearly two weeks into what the Blues said was a four-week time frame before being reevaluated for a right hand injury suffered blocking a shot in the first period of a 5-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 31.

"Yeah, he skated this morning," Berube said, before joking (I think!). "If you guys were up early and being here, you would have watched, but you're in bed still."