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NHL on NBCSN: Blues continue push for playoff spot against banged up Bruins

St. Louis Blues v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 22: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins controls the puck against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at TD Garden on November 22, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Blues won 4-2. (Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)

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NBCSN’s coverage of the 2017-18 NHL season continues on Wednesday, as the St. Louis Blues host the Boston Bruins at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online by clicking here.

The Boston Bruins are coming off an overtime loss to the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. Sure, the Bruins would liked to have collected two points, but the fact that they managed to force overtime without Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk and Rick Nash in their lineup is still pretty impressive.

One of the players that stepped into the lineup on Monday was rookie Ryan Donato, who the team signed on Sunday night. The former second-rounder made an instant impact offensively, as he recorded a goal and two assists in the defeat.

Funny enough, Donato skipped Bruins practice on Tuesday to attend a class at Harvard.

“I plan on finishing this semester academically,” Donato said on Monday, per WEEI. “Obviously it’s gonna be difficult, but for me it was a dream to graduate from Harvard. Obviously I’m putting that off a little bit, but for me I need to finish this semester to have that opportunity and not put it off an extra couple years.”

Donato will play in tonight’s game.

Although their playoff spot is all but secure, the Bruins still have plenty to play for. With Tampa Bay beating Toronto on Tuesday, Boston is now five points out of top spot in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.

When the Blues traded Paul Stastny away at the deadline, many (including Brayden Schenn) believed that their playoff hopes took a hit. Instead, they’ve managed to stay in the race.

Heading into this clash against the Bruins, St. Louis finds themselves just three points out of a Wild Card spot with a game in hand.

Unfortunately for them, they’ll likely have to take care of business without Vladimir Tarasenko, who is expected to miss tonight’s contest with an upper-body injury. Alexander Steen will take Tarasenko’s spot on the top line with Jaden Schwartz and Brayden Schenn.

“Obviously we’d love to have him in the lineup,” head coach Mike Yeo said of Tarasenko, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We know what he is and what he means for our team so it’s no question, it’s a significant loss, but we don’t have the opportunity or even the possibility for our team to sit around and think about what could be right now. We have to look at the group we have and we believe we still have a capable group.”

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.