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“We’ll find out tonight at 8:50,� Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.

That’s the extremely late start time for Game 3, though the decision will actually come out about 15 minutes before when the lineups are officially posted. There is ample reason to think the Blues will go with 11 and seven again, though other reasons for why they won't.

If they do go 12-6, the question is, who comes out? Ryan Suter, who played all 82 games, was the last defenseman off the ice, well after the other regulars, including Tyler Tucker, came into the dressing room. Usually the players who stay on the ice are those who aren’t playing — Suter was out there with Mathieu Joseph and Matthew Kessel — but this is the playoffs, when you can’t take anything for granted. When the team did rushes, Suter was skating with Kessel. Prior to Game 2, both Tucker and Joseph came out for pregame warmups, and Tucker sat out the rushes, but then was in the lineup and Joseph wasn't.

“It doesn’t matter who you sit at this time of the year, everybody has helped you get to the playoffs,� Montgomery said. “There are 16 teams that are no longer competing. Everybody in that room has helped us get to this point and the guys who are going to play tonight are the guys I feel give us the best opportunity to win our first game in the playoffs.�

In Game 2, Nick Leddy was the low man in minutes, playing just 9:34, while Tucker played 9:45 and Suter played 13:48. But Suter had the second most ice time on the penalty kill, behind only Colton Parayko.

“It really helps us when we go seven D because we can always get the matchups we want and the D pairings 5-on-5,� Montgomery said. “Suter’s a great penalty killer for us, so he’s going to get more penalty killing minutes. In neutral-zone situations you’re going to see Leddy a lot because he’s really good in transition with his skating and ability to make plays. Tucker will be getting D-zone and O-zone face-offs just because of the two elements I talked about previously (physicality and ability to get pucks through). You’re not going to juggle with your top four very much. I also think it helps that if you get someone nicked up during the game, we have a lot of versatility back there and anyone can move into the top four, top two or bottom six, just depending on what happens.�

Which sounds like an 11-7 answer, yet there was Alexandre Texier in the dressing room early after skating with the third line in the morning skate. If there is a 12th forward for this game, it's going to be Texier rather than Joseph.

“Obviously I’m fresh. I’m young,� said Texier, who last played on March 27. “Let’s get going. ... I don’t know (if I'm in), so I just get myself ready. I’m excited.�

The idea behind going with 11-7 in Game 2 was to promote offense, by taking the minutes of Joseph, who came out of the lineup, and divvying them up among others. Jimmy Snuggerud and Jordan Kyrou both got about four more minutes of ice time in Game 2 than in Game 1. Those numbers would have to go down if Texier was back in.

Thomas is ready

Robert Thomas, who has missed two practices lately for maintenance after getting hurt in the final game of the regular season, was on the ice for the morning skate on Thursday.

Asked about whether the extra time between Games 2 and 3 were good for him, he said, “Yeah, you just take advantage of the time you have.�

Blues projected lineup on Thursday in Game 3 vs. Winnipeg, 8:30 p.m.

Blues

Forward

Buchnevich-Thomas-Snuggerud

Neighbours-Schenn-Kyrou

Texier-Sundqvist-Bolduc

Toropchenko-Faksa-Walker

Defense

Fowler-Parayko

Broberg-Faulk

Leddy-Tucker

Suter

Goalie

Binnington

Hofer

Jets

Lines

Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo

Niederreiter-Namestnikov-Perfetti

Tanev-Lowry-Appleton

Gustafsson-Barron-Anderson Dolan

Defense

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Stanley-Schenn

Goalie

Hellebuyck

Comrie