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On Friday, forward Dylan Holloway was labeled week-to-week with a lower-body injury suffered on Thursday night against Pittsburgh. After Saturday’s game against the Avalanche, the Blues will only have four games remaining in the regular season, which concludes on April 15 against Utah.

The Blues entered Saturday with an 11-game win streak, and they’ve gone 12-1-1 without defenseman Colton Parayko available due to knee surgery, and were 4-0-0 when Pavel Buchnevich was out.

“It just goes back to the herd, pack mentality,� Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We’ve been able to go well without Parayko, and I don’t think there could have been a bigger loss than Parayko. We just dealt with it, we didn’t have Buchy for (four) games, I believe. There again is another top-six winger that plays in all important situation just like Holly does.

“Holly is a different animal. I think he leads us with his dogged, relentless pursuit of the puck. Someone’s going to have fulfill that, but we have a lot of players that have the ability and capability of fulfilling that type of role.�

With the end of the regular season looming, it’s possible that the next time Holloway plays comes in the first round of the playoffs. Asked if Holloway should be thinking ahead to the playoffs, Montgomery said “For him, that’s all there is.�

Does that mean that he’s out for the rest of the regular season?

“It’s just a different type of injury we haven’t dealt with,� Montgomery said. “How quickly does it mend? Is it a week? Is it two weeks? I don’t know.�

Holloway appeared to be injured on a hit by Pittsburgh’s Rutger McGroarty in the corner towards the end of the first period. He had one more shift after the hit, and it was abbreviated at 14 seconds.

Holloway did not play after the first intermission on Thursday, and was not on the ice for practice on Friday. When Montgomery met with reporters on Friday, the Blues were still awaiting full results from the doctor.

“We were hoping for better news,� Montgomery said. “We were hoping for day-to-day instead of week-to-week. We’ll just see how it progresses now. Now, it’s reality. We know what it is, and we’ll see how we do with his recovery.�

Jake Neighbours will fill Holloway’s role on a line alongside Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou, after previously skating with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchenvich.

“He knows what Holly brought to that line,� Montogmery said. “He’s going to do it in a different way. He doesn’t skate like Holly, but his little details and his greasiness in and around the net is something that every line can use. That’s why his line’s been so successful when he’s been with Thommer and Buchy.�

Schenn slid over to Holloway’s spot on the power play, and the shuffle in lines resulted in Jimmy Snuggerud on the top line with Thomas and Buchnevich, plus Mathieu Joseph’s re-entrance in the lineup on the third line.

Forward Alexandre Texier was not on the ice again for Saturday’s optional morning skate due to an upper-body injury.

“He’s day-to-day and we’ve got to see how he recovers,� Montgomery said. “But there’s a good chance we will have to call somebody up if he doesn’t recover. Because right now, we don’t have an extra forward as it is for today.�

Witnessing history

Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record by scoring twice on Friday night vs. Chicago, and can break the record with one more goal. Washington plays at the Islanders on Sunday.

“I think it’s great for the game,� Montgomery said. “The media attention it brings to the game when someone is breaking a record that I thought would never be touched is great for the game. The Great Eight, it’s unreal what he’s doing, especially when you consider he went through what I thought were the dead years of offensive hockey while he was doing it, and doing some of these numbers.�

Could Montgomery see the record be challenged again?

“The game always changes,� Montgomery said. “I thought it was great they reduced goalie (equipment) size. Equipment was getting ridiculous. Now you see more pucks go through goalies. Is there going to be something in the future that will change things where the game even opens up more than it is. He’s benefitted from 3 on 3 overtime. Gretzky never had that. All I know is that it’s incredible what he’s doing, and could it be broken again? Phenomenal players come around. They just do. You have to be healthy and you have to have a special dedication and love for the game. Those elite, generational players have that.�

Auston Matthews is 27 years and 200 days old. At that age, he has 397 career goals, which is fifth all-time, and 38 more than Ovechkin had at the same age.