It was only one game, but the St. Louis Blues looked like a different team with Jake Neighbours back in the lineup: refreshed, energized, and able to capitalize on the attack.
Neighbours missed nearly a month due to injury, but returned in what was ultimately an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Neighbours only registered one point, but it was a beauty of a primary assist on this slick pass to Justin Faulk for his second goal of the night.
confirmed. Justin Faulk loves creating #content. pic.twitter.com/LzaiFTBlqO
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 21, 2025
Most of Neighbours's night was spent on the top line with Jimmy Snuggerud and Robert Thomas--no easing back in after nearly four weeks away. Strangely enough, though, that line was one of the Blues' worst by the fancy stats. Per Natural Stat Trick, in 11:00 of 5-on-5 ice time, the trio of Neighbours, Thomas, and Snuggerud had a measly 27.78 Corsi-for percentage and a 29.77 expected Goals-for percentage. Small sample size of one game, sure, but that's not ideal.
For a Blues team that has looked out of sorts all season, Neighbours's hot hand has been worth watching, with six goals and eight points in nine games. However, don't expect him to keep up that torrid goalscoring pace all season. Neighbours has a career average of 18.2 shooting percentage; right now, he's shooting 46.2 percent.
It doesn't matter who you are or how good a shot you have: nobody scores on nearly 50 percent of their shots forever. Still, the Blues needed a jolt, and getting Neighbours and his youthful energy back in the lineup seemed to make a difference for most of yesterday's game. Hopefully,he finds his groove and continues to get an opportunity at the top of the lineup.