ST. LOUIS — To say the St. Louis Blues are limping into their home game

ST. LOUIS — To say the St. Louis Blues are limping into their home game against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night would be an understatement.The Blues are limping figuratively with a 9-13-3 record www.officialflyersproshop.com , the franchise’s worst start since beginning the 2006-07 season with a 7-15-3 mark.And now they are limping literally after announcing that captain Alex Pietrangelo was one of three players placed on injured reserve.Article continues below ...Pietrangelo (hand), forward Robby Fabbri (shoulder) and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (upper body) were all put on IR. Forward Alexander Steen (concussion) is day to day.Pietrangelo, the Blues’ top defenseman, hurt the hand during the team’s 3-2 overtime win at Colorado on Friday. He is likely to have surgery.“Alex Pietrangelo sustained a hand injury, he’s been placed on long-term (injured reserve), so he’ll be re-evaluated around Christmas,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told NHL.com on Monday afternoon before practice. “He’s talking to the doctors now. There’s the likelihood that he’ll have some surgery, yes.”Blues interim coach Craig Berube said it was a huge loss.“Logs a lot of minutes, plays in a lot of situations Philadelphia Flyers T-Shirts Authentic , captain of your team,” Berube told NHL.com. “It’s tough, but there are other players who are going to get an opportunities here, and they have to step up. We all have to play well. The team has to play well.“When you have injuries, it’s very important that we stick together as a team and play well as a team.”Fabbri was injured in a 6-1 loss at Arizona on Saturday. It is the latest in a string of injuries that have sidelined him for 122 of the past 137 games, including two torn ACLs.“Robby Fabbri separated his shoulder. He’s been put on IR and will be evaluated around Christmas,” Armstrong told NHL.com. “His is a shoulder injury; I don’t think it’s a surgical candidate. I’m actually sure it’s not or else we’d be a lot longer than Christmas.”The Blues recalled forwards Jordan Nolan and Jordan Kyrou and defenseman Chris Butler from San Antonio of the American Hockey League.Wednesday’s game at Enterprise Center will be the first of three this season between the Blues and the Oilers. St. Louis took two of three last season from Edmonton.The Oilers are coming off of a 4-1 loss at Dallas on Monday that snapped a three-game winning streak.Left winger Jujhar Khaira scored the Oilers’ goal, as the team played with just 11 forwards after captain and leading scorer Connor McDavid and Ryan Spooner were scratched.“You’ve got to move on,” Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock told NHL.com. “You’ve got to be able to win games if you’re missing one guy. It’s not the end of the world.”The game will be a homecoming of sorts for Hitchcock Philadelphia Flyers Hoodies Authentic , who coached the Blues from 2011 to 2017. Hitchcock had a 248-124-41 record leading the Blues.“It was a hell of a six-year run,” he told NHL.com. “We were in a conference and a division that was strong. We were sitting there with Nashville and Chicago and then you’ve got LA, who was on a roll, and we were right in the mix with those teams.” TORONTO — This could be a period of many happy returns for the Toronto Maple Leafs and for one of their former players, James van Riemsdyk of the Philadelphia Flyers.Van Riemsdyk will return to the Scotiabank Arena Saturday night for the first time since signing as a free agent with the Flyers in the offseason.The Flyers (10-10-2) arrived in Toronto after a 4-0 victory Friday afternoon against the New York Rangers, while the Maple Leafs (15-8-0) lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 Friday night.Article continues below ...The Maple Leafs have lost two consecutive road games for the first time this season but have won three in a row at home.“It’s going to be an emotional day for me,” said van Riemsdyk, who scored 36 goals last season for Toronto. “It meant a lot for me to play for the Maple Leafs. I enjoyed my time there. It’s something I’ll really look back fondly on. But we’re there to get the two points and excited for the game to come.”The left winger said the Maple Leafs told him a few weeks before free agency opened that they would be going in a different direction.“So, I appreciated that fact Philadelphia Flyers Hats Authentic ,” van Riemsdyk said. “Going into free agency is enough of an emotional and stressful time, let alone if you have to weigh a lot of factors. That allowed me to go into free agency with an open mind.”The Flyers had drafted van Riemsdyk second overall in 2007 and traded him to Toronto for defenseman Luke Schenn in June 2012. As a free agent, van Riemsdyk opted to return to his first team.“You never really expect to be in the same place twice,” van Riemsdyk said. “But again, it’s a huge thrill for me to get a second chance, to come back here and hopefully we can do some great things on the ice. I’m happy with my choice.”Van Riemsdyk has 202 goals and 195 assists in 615 games between Toronto and Philadelphia. This season he has been limited to six games because of a lower-body injury.About returns, Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Friday before the game: “We think our team’s going to be better, we have significant pieces not here and they will be here.”An obvious missing piece is center Auston Matthews, who could be returning to competition by the middle of next week after being out with a shoulder injury suffered during the Oct. 27 against the Winnipeg Jets.Then there is holdout right winger William Nylander. Babcock said that he was “hopeful” that Nylander was going to be signed before the Dec. 1 deadline.“I’m confident Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys , hopeful,” Babcock said. “I mean, Willie loves hockey. I know Willie well. He is a great teammate and a good person and he loves hockey. He wants to play hockey, you know, so. … I’m betting on that. How’s that?”The Maple Leafs have been starting games slowly and fell behind Friday night 2-0 for the third game in a row. They were able to overcome that deficit Monday to beat the Blue Jackets 4-2 in Toronto. They have not been so fortunate in their past two games even though they tied the game at 2 Friday. They also lost Wednesday 5-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes.“I thought (Friday) that might have been as good a road game as we’ve played in a while,” Babcock said. “I thought our guys skated good, we moved the puck. We turned the puck over on the first goal and on their fourth goal. You can’t do that, but the bottom line is we played heavy, we played fast www.officialpenguinsproshop.com , we did lots of good things. We’ve got to take the energy into (Saturday) night. Obviously, Philly played (Friday), which is nice. They’re sitting at home watching our game and waiting for us. We’ll get re-energized and ready for (Saturday).”Sean Couturier scored twice, and Calvin Pickard made 31 saves in his fourth career shutout Friday as Philadelphia ended an 0-3-1 skid. Travis Konecny added a goal and two assists and Claude Giroux had three assists as Philadelphia took a season-high 46 shots on goal.“There weren’t many guys below the bar; there were none, to be honest with you,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “We played a real good 60-minute game. Everybody went out and did their job, from the goaltender on out.” Pickard has been playing because Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth are sidelined with lower-body injuries. Pickard has made 10 appearances and has a 4-1-2 record.