Blues mum on Backes, Fabbri injuries before Game 5

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues captain David Backes and forward Robby Fabbri did not participate in the team’s optional morning skate before Monday’s Game 5 at Scottrade Center.

Backes was on the bench, but did not play the second and third periods of the Blues’ Game 4 win at the San Jose Sharks that tied their series at 2-2.

Fabbri missed most of the third period.

After Game 4 Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said both players “should be good to go” for Game 5. He wasn’t quite as clear on their readiness as of Monday morning.

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“We’re going to dress the same lineup for warmup that we did the last game. We had two extra forwards, one extra D. No changes,” he said. “All those players are there. They’ll dress for warmup and then we’ll run a further evaluation after warmup. Same 23 guys are dressing.”

Losing one or both could be a big blow to the Blues in Game 5. Backes is tied for the team lead in goals this postseason with seven. Fabbri is the Blues’ leading scorer in the playoffs with 14 points. 

“We know where we stand in the dressing room already. You guys can speculate until gametime. We’ve had injuries and guys coming in and out of the lineup all throughout the season, and so it has shown a lot about a lot of different players in here,” forward Troy Brouwer said. “You get to see some extra out of the guys you thought they might not have had. We’ve seen a lot of the guys step in and fill key roles in important times. If something is out of place tonight, we have all the confidence in the world in the guys that can step in.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper