The Blues placed forward Brandon Saad (upper-body) on injured reserve on Thursday morning, and recalled Jake Neighbours from AHL affiliate Springfield. Saad exited Tuesday’s game against Florida during the second period and did not return.

Blues coach Craig Berube said the Blues would monitor Saad’s status, “to see how he feels day to day.” He is not eligible to return until next week’s game against Vancouver.

For the third time this season, Neighbours was recalled from the AHL. During his second stint, Neighbours made the argument that he belongs in the NHL by scoring three goals and adding four assists in 14 games.

Neighbours scored a goal in his last NHL game on Jan. 30 at Winnipeg before he was sent down during the All-Star break to the AHL. Springfield has been on a roll, winning nine straight games.

“Got a lot of guys back from injury that have been hurt all year, so roster looks a lot different than it did at the start of the year, and starting to find some success,” Neighbours said. “I want to be here as much as I can and whenever I can. But they’ve got a good team down there, it’s fun to be a part of.”

He was squeezed off the NHL roster when Ryan O’Reilly and Pavel Buchnevich returned from injury, and when Sammy Blais took Vladimir Tarasenko’s spot in St. Louis.

With Ivan Barbashev occupying Saad’s spot with O’Reilly and Buchnevich, Neighbours slipped into the third line on Thursday night. He played with Noel Acciari and Sammy Blais, forming a hard-hitting trio.

“We like that aspect of his game, he likes to take the body,” Berube said. “We need more of it.”

On Thursday night, Neighbours played on a line with Noel Acciari and Sammy Blais as Ivan Barbashev was promoted to play alongside Ryan O’Reilly and Pavel Buchnevich.

Entering this season, Blues forward Nathan Walker had won 11 faceoffs in his NHL career. In Tuesday’s win over Florida alone, he won seven.

Walker is a winger by trade, but has been asked to play center on the fourth line between Alexey Toropchenko and Tyler Pitlick. That means more faceoffs for the 29-year-old who had only played center on Washington’s AHL team prior to arriving in St. Louis.

This season, Walker has won 61.9% of faceoffs, a rate that puts him ahead of Robert Thomas (54.1%), O’Reilly (54.0%), Acciari (53.9%) and Brayden Schenn (48.9%).

“I’ve always wanted to play center at some point, so I’ve always kind of worked on faceoffs that way,” Walker said. “When you got guys like Schenner, O’Ry and Tommer and Acciari playing center, you can definitely ask them questions. They kind of help me out if I have questions about certain guys and their tendencies.”

Walker’s ability to win a draw meant a touch more ice time, as he played 10:32 compared to his season average of 9:26.

“When I watch him go in there, he’s highly competitive,” Berube said. “That’s how he wins a lot of those draws. He just wills his way.”

The Blues moved Thomas to the net-front on the top power play unit, shifting him from the right flank to in front of the crease, when Schenn previously was. Berube said it was “just specific for certain games.”

“We move him around (depending) on what we’re seeing from the opposition’s penalty kill,” Berube said. “So if there’s plays that we feel are going to benefit us, we’ll put him down there at time. The goalline guy can make some plays down there against certain penalty kills, and it’s important to have a guy that can make plays. He’s ultimately our best play-maker.”