HAZELWOOD, Mo. – The Blue held a limited optional skate on Thursday, but one of the skaters happened to be right wing Vladimir Tarasenko.
Tarasenko, who missed the past two games and final two periods last Saturday with an upper-body injury stemming from an elbow to the mouth/jaw area he took early in the game against the Rangers from defenseman Neal Pionk, was a full participant in the skate on Thursday and coach Mike Yeo deemed it "hopeful" that Tarasenko can rejoin the lineup on Friday against the Vancouver Canucks.
"I can tell you that he felt good today," Yeo said. "The next step is we'll see how the morning skate goes tomorrow.
In The Slot
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"... Felt good today. We'll see how he is in the morning. If he's ready to play then we have a spot for him, no question. We're anxious to get him back. Today was a good step. He's been feeling better and was good for him to feel better on the ice, put him through the paces a little bit and so we'll see how he is tomorrow."
Tarasenko leads the Blues in goals with 27 and is second in points with 58 in 71 games behind Brayden Schenn (62).
Besides Tarasenko, goalie Carter Hutton and left wing Scottie also took part in the optional skate Thursday.
It was Hutton's first skate with teammates (he has skated on his own with goalie coach David Alexander) since he was injured during the morning skate on March 8 against San Jose.
"He's coming along," Yeo said of Hutton. "Another good day today. I don't know if this weekend's going to be a possibility to rejoin the group, but he's certainly getting closer."
Upshall, who has a sprained MCL, skated for a second straight day with teammates. He was initially injured March 3 at Dallas and was scheduled to miss approximately four weeks.
