Flames, Blues dealing with injuries

ST. LOUIS -- The Calgary Flames' injury list continues to grow. Now it's Max Reinhart's turn to help fill the void.

Reinhart, recalled from the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, will be in the lineup Thursday when the Flames continue a four-game trip against the St. Louis Blues.

Reinhart was recalled as a result of an MCL sprain sustained by Curtis Glencross on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. Glencross is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

Reinhart, who has 11 games of NHL experience, will slot into the lineup ahead of Sven Baertschi, who will be a healthy scratch for the third straight game.

"Max Reinhart was playing very well over in Abbotsford," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "St. Louis [is] a big, physical team and we like what Max brought to us in training camp and exhibition games. We felt like Max was the right guy for tonight's game.

"... With the injuries that we have right now, we don't have tons of options."

Reinhart, a third-round pick (No. 64) in the 2010 NHL Draft, has three points in 11 NHL games and had nine points in 13 games for the Heat.

"I'll just play my game," Reinhart said. "I'm pretty excited to just get back in the lineup and start skating."

The Blues are close to getting a pair of injured players back as Brenden Morrow and Magnus Paajarvi are healing from upper-body injuries.

Paajarvi has been out since Oct. 26 and Morrow has been sidelined since being cross-checked against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 29.

"Both guys are good," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Both guys were getting bumped [Wednesday], full participants in the scrimmage, or the little game they had going on. Good to see. We'll get a better read on them how they feel [Thursday], but they got bumped around a little bit [Wednesday]."

"I started slow," Morrow said. "The first couple days were pretty sore. I had a tough time getting out of bed even, but over a short period of time gotten a lot better.

"I think it's about a week or so now. I'm able to do about 90 percent of the things on the ice. The last thing will probably be body contact and I don't know how far away I'm from getting into that stuff."

The Blues and Flames' probable lineups for Thursday:

BLUES

Alexander Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Derek Roy - Vladimir Sobotka - Chris Stewart

Jaden Schwartz - Patrik Berglund - Vladimir Tarasenko

Adam Cracknell - Maxim Lapierre - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk

Jordan Leopold - Roman Polak

Brian Elliott

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Ian Cole, Chris Porter

Injured: Brenden Morrow (upper body), Magnus Paajarvi (upper body)

FLAMES

Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - David Jones

Mike Cammalleri - Joe Colborne - TJ Galiardi

Tim Jackman - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler

Max Reinhart - Mikael Backlund - Brian McGrattan

Chris Butler - TJ Brodie

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

Shane O'Brien - Chad Billins

Reto Berra

Karri Ramo

Scratched: Derek Smith, Sven Baertschi

Injured: Mark Giordano (ankle), Curtis Glencross (knee), Lee Stempniak (foot), Christopher Breen (abdomen)