NHL Buzz: Saad, Buchnevich expected back for Blues against Canucks

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St. Louis Blues

Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad are expected to return for the Blues against the Vancouver Canucks at Enterprise Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; BSMW, SNP, ESPN+, SN NOW).
Buchnevich has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury; Saad (upper body) has missed three.
Buchnevich skated at practice Wednesday on a line with Brayden Schenn and Ivan Barbashev, and Saad skated with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
"They looked good today," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They've been skating out here. We've been gone, but they seem to be ready.
"Just having them back at practice, practice was elevated. They're missed when they're out of the lineup. They're good players."
Berube said he did not have an update on defenseman Torey Krug, who left during the third period of a 4-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
Krug has missed 17 games this season because of injuries.
"It's tough on him and tough on the team for sure," Berube said. "Can't catch a break. This is the same (injury) as the last one." -- Lou Korac

Florida Panthers

Anthony Duclair
is expected to make his season debut against the Buffalo Sabres at FLA Live Arena on Friday (7 p.m., SN, BSFL, MSG-B, ESPN+, SN NOW).
The forward has been on long-term injured reserve since he sustained a torn Achilles tendon during the offseason.
"He's been going hard for a while," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after practice Wednesday. "He's been out of the gold (non-contact) jersey for a while, so he looks like he's ready to go. We won't take him off LTIR until after the morning skate of the next game, but our expectation is he'll be ready to play."
Duclair, who began skating in December, set NHL career highs with 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games for Florida last season.
Maurice said Duclair would start off in a third-line role in his return.
"I won't be overly worried about minutes in the conditioning idea because he's been skating hard for a long time," Maurice said. "He's going to be, in some ways, the fittest guy that we have because he hasn't been worn down over the course of the year. Because of where we're at the season, I'm not going to wait a long time. If he's going, then I'll get his minutes up."
The Panthers also are expected to get center Sam Bennett back against Buffalo after he missed three games because of a lower-body injury sustained during a 6-2 loss at St. Louis on Feb. 14.-- Alain Poupart

Colorado Avalanche

Cale Makar is in concussion protocol and will not be available to the Avalanche for their next two games, coach Jared Bednar told Altitude Sports Radio.
The Avalanche visit the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and host the Calgary Flames on Saturday. They have been off since a 6-5 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, a game Makar missed one day after playing 21:27 in a 4-1 win against the Blues. The defenseman had been out four games with a head injury sustained in a 2-1 overtime loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 7.
"He got hit in Pittsburgh, felt fine, came back in the game, passed all the tests, had a delayed response to his symptoms, so he went under the protocol and had to miss the allotted time," Bednar said. "Everything was going great, and he comes back in St. Louis and then he gets hit again and has troubles with his nose. But he was feeling fine, so he came back and played. But he had a delayed response again on his symptoms, and that timetable automatically puts him out for this weekend."
Makar is third on the Avalanche with 45 points (13 goals, 32 assists) in 46 games and leads the NHL average ice time (26:57).
"He understands it because he's been through it before," Bednar said. "We'll keep an eye on him and see how it goes. Unfortunately, it's not just a nose that kept him out this time. It was sort of a delayed response. We had him scheduled to play that game against Edmonton and he wasn't able to do it. We'll just monitor him and hope for a speedy return, but it won't be the two games this weekend."
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson is out indefinitely with a broken ankle sustained while blocking a shot in the first period of a 5-3 win against the Panthers on Feb. 11. Bednar said he wasn't sure if Johnson would return prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Nashville Predators

Filip Forsberg likely will be out at least the next two games for the Predators because of an upper-body injury.
The forward has missed five games since sustaining an upper-body injury after taking a hit in the corner from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen during a 2-1 overtime win on Feb. 11.
Nashville won 5-4 in a shootout against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. The Predators will visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
"Filip Forsberg is skating, not with the team ... I don't think he would play on this road trip," Predators general manager David Poile told "Robby & Rexrode" on 102.5 The Game on Tuesday. "But I think that he's getting better and maybe next week when we talk, I can have more of an exact update."
Forsberg is third on Nashville with 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists) in 50 games this season.