Jake Neighbours continues to play an important role for the St. Louis Blues.
In his second full season in the NHL, Neighbours has likely exceeded his expectations with 21 goals on the season, including one against the Minnesota Wild, tonight's opponent in a crucial late-season matchup.
Blues player to watch vs. Wild: Jake Neighbours (1:22)
Neighbours is on the second line with Pavel Buchnevich and Zachary Bolduc and he's also the net front presence on the top power play unit. He scored Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 win and has seemed to find his game again after a bit of a dip.
"I thought 'Jakey,' when we went on the road, I felt like he got away from his game a little bit for a few games there," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "A quick conversation with 'Jakey' and then he's right back on the right track. I thought he played outstanding in Boston and was outstanding in that L.A. game. When he's playing a very direct north-south game, he's extremely effective, pulls guys into the fight but he also helps younger players out and makes it easy for us to put Bolduc into a situation where he needs the puck on his stick and I thought there was some good chemistry there between him and 'Buchy.'"
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