Dave Luecking
© St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 19, 1999

Wingers Scott Young and Tyson Nash will return to the lineup tonight when the Blues play the Chicago Blackhawks at Savvis Center.

Nash and Young missed the Blues' 1-0 victory over Anaheim on Tuesday with sore shoulders.

"Everything is feeling good," Nash said. "The machine is fueled, and I'm ready to rock."

Neither injury was particularly serious. Both players could have played Tuesday, but with a light schedule, the Blues took a cautious approach.

"I definitely could have played, but you don't get a crack in the schedule like this very often," Nash said. "You want to make sure you get as much time as you need to heal."

Of the two, Nash's injury was less serious. He hurt his shoulder hitting Florida's Todd Simpson in the Blues' 5-2 victory Saturday.

Young, however, has had lingering pain in his right shoulder since Nov. 21, when the Blues played Vancouver at Savvis Center. He also dinged it on Nov. 30 in Toronto and wore a brace in the Florida game.

"It got to the point where it was very weak," said Young, who dislocated the shoulder in the third-to-last game of last season and played in pain in the playoffs. "By taking time off and working on it, it's much stronger now than it was last Saturday against Florida. I threw the brace on for that game because it was so weak."

Young, who has scored only two goals in the last 14 games, was back on the No. 1 line with center Pierre Turgeon and left winger Dallas Drake. Nash skated on the third line with center Mike Eastwood and right winger J amal Mayers.

Roman Turek will start tonight against the Blackhawks, but coach Joel Quenneville said he wasn't sure whether Turek would start Sunday as well.

"He could play back-to-back, but we'll see," Quenneville said. "We haven't determined that yet. We'll play this one and see how it goes."

Turek is 9-3-3, with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. He also has four shutouts, including one against the Blackhawks. Backup Brent Johnson is 9-1-0, with a league-leading 1.51 GAA and a .933 save percentage that's third in the league.

The Blues and Chicago rank one-two in the league in penalty killing. The Blues lead the league with a 90.3-percent kill rate, with only 12 goals against on 124 opponent power plays. The Blackhawks have allowed 14 goals on 123 kills for 88.6 percent. They've also scored a league-high six short-handed goals.

Chicago's power play has struggled, however, scoring on just 12 of 114 man-advantage situations - a 10.5 percent success rate that ranks 27th in the NHL. The Blues are 17th with 19 goals on 121 power plays, a 15.7 percent success rate.