(3-17-22) Penguins-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It appeared the Blues would get two key cogs back for their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. today (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) but that's not the case.

Pavel Buchnevich will return after missing three games in concussion protocol after skating for three straight days, including this morning. However, Robert Thomas, who missed Sunday's 4-3 overtime loss against the Winnipeg Jets with a non-COVID-related illness, appeared set to return tonight after taking part in practice on Wednesday and today's morning skate, even working with one of the power-play groups and participating in the practice in its entirety, but coach Craig Berube indicated that Thomas will not play, thus missing a second straight game.

"Thomas is not in," Berube said. 

When asked if he's still not quite there, the coach responded, "No."

Thomas was skating between Jordan Kyrou and Vladimir Tarasenko, and then was on the power-play group with Justin Faulk, Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Kyrou, a clear indication he would be in, but the 23-year-old Thomas simply isn't feeling it yet.

"It's hard to explain, to be honest with you," Berube said. "He doesn't feel ready to play yet. That's where he's at."

But the Blues will get Buchnevich back, and after the news of Wednesday that Tyler Bozak (lower-body injury) will be out a minimum of four weeks and then be reevaluated, he will take the spot vacated by Bozak.

"It's a tough one," captain Ryan O'Reilly said of Bozak. "It's tough to lose him. He's such a guy that does everything right. You can put him in any situation and he finds a way to impact the game. It's tough to lose him, but we are a deep team. We have other guys that have opportunities now to play and make an impact. Hopefully it's a speedy recovery and he'll be back soon."

- - -

There have been some deals already kicking off the days leading up to Monday's 2 p.m. NHL trade deadline, including defenseman Ben Chiarot, a player on the Blues' radar, who was sent to the Florida Panthers for a prospect, a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick.

The Blues haven't pulled the trigger on anything, yet, if they do anything at all, but for the days leading up to Monday, they just have to focus on the games at hand and let the chips fall where they may.

"This time is always nerve-wracking and such around the league," O'Reilly said. "You can tell around the league everyone's kind of nervous, but for our group, we're confident, we have a very good team here. Who knows what will happen. Our focus is on playing these games and getting these points. If something happens, it happens, but we just try to stay in the moment as best as we can."

Staying in the moment means not taking about it, not bringing it up in the room and playing games.

"That's what you've got to do," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "You've got to focus on coming to the game or to the rink and just working hard and just doing the best in your role. We have a good team. I'm excited about the stretch run and where this is going to go. We have a good dynamic. It's one of those things where it's a part of it, everybody kind of knows what the trade deadline week is like or whatever. We're just looking forward to just moving forward as a group after the deadline. I don't think we've really talked about it. Nobody's really talked about it in the room. We just go about our business, show up and just keep on working."

As for the coach, sure, Berube has a part in who comes in and who goes. Not so much as to pulling the trigger on deals, but general manager Doug Armstrong will run names by him and get Berube's input on if said player(s) can help the team, but for the most part, they tend to block the chatter out until something becomes concrete.

"Yeah, I do. There's not much I can do," Berube said. "I like our team. You don't know what's going to happen, but things happen. You try and improve your team, maybe you stand pat. My job's just to get the team ready to play the next game. That's it. I've got to focus on Pittsburgh tomorrow and get our team ready to play Pittsburgh. The deadline will come and it will go. Maybe something happens, maybe it doesn't. 

"I like our team, I do. We have an ability to score goals in different ways. Our special teams have been good, our goaltending's been solid. We've got a lot of good pieces."

- - -

- Tonight marks a stretch of five consecutive games against the east for the Blues. They are 11-9-3 in such games this season.

- Forward Brayden Schenn has a three-game point streak (one goal, four assists).

- Kyrou has six assists in a three-game point streak, but he hasn't scored in four straight.

- Defenseman Torey Krug has a three-game point streak (one goal, three assists).

- Forward David Perron has six points (five goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak, including at least a goal in each of the four games.

- Tarasenko has a three-game point streak (one goal, five assists).

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brandon Saad-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jordan Kyrou-Brayden Schenn-Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev-Logan Brown-Pavel Buchnevich

Mackenzie MacEachern-Oskar Sundqvist-Alexei Toropchenko

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola-Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup., 

The healthy scratch is Jake Walman. Robert Thomas (illness), Tyler Bozak (lower body) and Scott Perunovich (wrist) are out. 

- - -

The Penguins' projected lineup:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues

Danton Heinen-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust

Radim Zohorna-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen

Brian Boyle-Teddy Blueger-Dominik Simon

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang

Mike Matheson-John Marino

Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel

Tristan Jarry will start in goal; Casey DeSmith will be the backup. 

The healthy scratch is Mark Friedman. Jason Zucker (hernia), Brock McGinn (upper body) and Zach Aston-Reese (illness) are out.

(3-16-22) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Buchnevich practices, Thomas, Krug do not; players view as trade 

deadline nears; Blues haven't had it good in OT; Sundqvist managing injuries 

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues were back on the ice Tuesday, in the middle of their final three-day stretch between games for the remainder of the regular season.

Forward Pavel Buchnevich, out the past three games in concussion protocol, was on the ice for the first time in a week wearing a red no-contact jersey.

"He finished practice, which was good," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "You kind of got to see how he feels tomorrow."

Buchnevich, who has 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists) in 50 games, got in a full workload of cardio but no hitting. 

"Just see how he handles that with your head," Berube said.

Center Robert Thomas, who missed Sunday's 4-3 overtime loss against the Winnipeg Jets due to a non-COVID related illness, missed practice, and defenseman Torey Krug was also kept off the ice for maintenance purposes.

"Still not doing any (good)," Berube said of Thomas. "We'll see how he is tomorrow. I can't really give you an answer on that one.

"Krug will be at practice tomorrow. We're just managing him."

* No bueno in OT -- The Blues overtime record this season has not been, to put it kindly, all that good. 

Losing to the Jets dropped their mark to 1-6 in games decided by the five-minute 3-on-3 session. Only the Buffalo Sabres are worse at 1-7.

The Blues put in little to no practice for 3-on-3 situations, largely because it can be hard to simulate the situations that can arise there.

"It's hard to practice 3-on-3 and get the certain situations that come up," Berube said. "I thought about it a little bit, practicing it but it's not an easy thing to practice. You can't make up scenarios in 3-on-3s. It's not a lot of system-wise going into 3-on-3. It's just what it is, you've normally got three skilled guys out there, your top-skilled players and it's about capitalizing on your opportunities, but it's also about being patient and not wasting shots if you're not in position to score. 

"It's about getting the face-off. We didn't win the draw (Sunday). We didn't have the puck. We had the puck the one time and we got a good opportunity from David Perron, but that was the only time we had the puck the whole time. You've got to be patient and have composure anf then you've got to take the puck out of the zone a lot of times, get some line changes in there, get fresh guys out there and then you can't poach on anything. If you don't have the puck, you can't poach on anything. You've got to stay patient and keep them on the outside as much as you can. I think we've lost three or four games this year where we just poached and didn't do a good job there and we ended up giving an odd-man rush."

The goal the Jets scored by Pierre-Luc Dubois had them with three forwards on the ice at the same time, something that's rare but not unforeseen.

"You can try and attack them if you do get the puck," said Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, who was on the ice for the 2-on-1 that the Jets scored on in OT. "They had good possession obviously on us, but it's an opportunity for us to get the chance to get on the offense too because if you can get them in their zone maybe, it could be a good opportunity. Obviously they had good puck control for the overtime and then ended up working out (for them), but it was different. I don't know if we've seen three forwards.

"I think puck possession's a big thing. Just the little things, I don't know, 3-on-3s an open game, it's pretty open, a lot of skilled guys. If there's one breakdown or something like that, the puck can go in the back of the net pretty quickly. But also at the other end for us too. There seems to be a couple good chances for each team and you've just got to bury it, put it in the net if you have a chance. Puck possession's kind of the name of the game in overtime. Just get possession, good changes and stuff like that."

* Trade deadline looming -- With the NHL trade deadline fast approaching, Monday at 2 p.m. (CT) to be exact, it's only natural for players throughout the 32 teams to be wondering who stays, who goes, will the roster be the same or not when it comes to dealings management takes part in.

For teams like the Blues in the thick of the playoff race, or for those as certain lock-ins looking for that one piece or two that can put them over the top, or even those rebuilding and looking to the future, times can certainly be unnerving.

"I think almost everyone is usually nervous about the deadline, but nothing you can control," Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist said. "You use it to focus on playing your game and trying to win hockey games for the Blues."

And the Blues have been good about really not mentioning it or talking about it, which is probably the best way to go since players without clauses in their contracts have no say in the goings on.

"That's what you've got to do," Parayko said. "You've got to focus on coming to the game or to the rink and just working hard and just doing the best in your role. We have a good team. I'm excited about the stretch run and where this is going to go. We have a good dynamic. It's one of those things where it's a part of it, everybody kind of knows what the trade deadline week is like or whatever. We're just looking forward to just moving forward as a group after the deadline. I don't think we've really talked about it. Nobody's really talked about it in the room. We just go about our business, show up and just keep on working."

"That is probably the best way to go about it is just to not talk about it," Sundqvist said. "Like Colton said, you can't control any of it. You can just keep focusing on your game and playing your best hockey. What happens, happens."

It's no secret that the Blues are linked to a top four defenseman, or even enhancing the forward position if need be, but considering their cap situation and being up or at the cap ceiling, they really need to maneuver themselves into dollar-in, dollar out trades or sweeten deals for teams to take on an outgoing salary.

But if they don't do anything, they like the group they have to take their best shot at winning it all.

"I do. We're good," Parayko said. "We have a good combination of everything. We have a lot of the roles filled. We have a lot of speed, we've got a lot of guys that can score, we've got a lot of guys that chip in pucks that will work down low, work the d-men hard. I think we have a good, collective group of players that create a good team and a really dynamic team that can be really tough to defend. Obviously our back end is really strong and guys that move the puck well and things like that and guys that can get up in the play also make it tough on teams. Overall, goalie's been playing really well for us too, gives us a chance to win every night. I really go like our team.

"It's one of those things where you just look back and after that official day, it's this is the team that's moving forward. That's what it is and everyone's eventually got to buy into that role and buy into their spot, push to make the team better and just make us a better group of six guys on the ice at all times."

"I'm confident on this group. I've been that from Day 1," Sundqvist said. "We've proven that when we play our game, we're a very difficult team to play against. Now it's just bear down and focus on this last stretch and really, really get into that playoff mode. It's still really tight in the standings and we need to play our game right now like it's a playoff game. We need to really prepare. I'm sure with our leaders in the locker room, we're going to really bare down here and work for getting in as good a position as possible before the playoffs.

"... I think we're a really tight group and we're deep in all positions. I really think this group can do a lot of damage in the playoffs. It feels like we're a team that's built for playoffs and if this is the group that's going to do it, I'm 100 percent confident we can do it."

* Sundqvist managing injuries -- It's been no secret that Sundqvist has been playing at less than 100 percent this season, and coming off major surgeries to his left knee and both hips, who can blame him?

Sundqvist, who has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 39 games this season, played on Sunday after missing three games.

The Blues are managing his workload and practicing when he can.

"I think we were on the road for like 18 out of 20 days or something like that and it really took a toll on the body," Sundqvist said. "I kind of didn't have the time that I needed to keep everything as fit as I wanted, so we decided to take a couple days off there with focusing on the off-ice stuff and really tried to build the strength back up. It was good to get those days off and really focused on building my strength back up. Now we should be all good."

Let's face it, the Blues managing Sundqvist is like saying they know he won't likely be 100 percent until next season, and that's usually the case for players who have knee surgeries, particularly to ACLs.

"That's what they've been telling me too from the beginning," Sundqvist said. "You try to get that a little in the back of your mind too that the whole first year, it's not going to feel 100 percent normal. Like you said, it's not until the next season that everything's going to be feeling back to 100 percent and feeling great again. We're doing our best to try and manage it and keeping it as good as possible. I know people you're talking about that did ACL surgery, well I also had two hip surgeries to put in that pile. We're just trying to manage it as best as we can because you don't have the whole summer to really work out and for training and stuff like that. That's going to come this summer again when you really get a full summer of focusing on preparing for next season."

Blues' 4-3 OT loss to Jets a result of poor start to third

Protecting 2-1 lead, Blues began flat, played flat, stayed back and 

allowed Jets to dictate play before fighting back for late goal to earn point

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Forget about the deficiencies that cost the Blues another point in overtime of a 4-3 loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. Go back a bit further than that.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (50) makes one of his 33 saves in front

of Winnipeg's Pierre-Luc Dubois Sunday in a 4-3 OT loss.

The end result is what everyone will remember, a 2-on-1 Jets rush that ended when Pierre-Luc Dubois rifled home a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from Nikolaj Ehlers to drop the Blues (34-17-8) to 1-6 in games decided in the 3-on-3 competition. But the fact of the matter is the Blues, after two straight wins against quality opponents, lost this game when the puck dropped for the third period.

A team that came into Sunday’s contest 23-3-2 when holding a lead after the second period, had just taken that lead when Vladimir Tarasenko scored with 26.2 seconds left in the second to take a 2-1 lead.

Those are the kinds of goals that are uplifting to those that get them, deflating to those that surrender them.

The Jets (27-23-10) are a desperate hockey club, fighting for their lives in the standings among a logjam of teams trying to squeeze into one of two spots in the Western Conference wildcard, so the Blues had to figure a push was coming.

Problem is the Blues had no answers for the Jets start, and it showed.

Winnipeg pushed and pushed, they chipped pucks and they pursued. The Blues did not handle the pressure very well and surrendered the lead. It came in a 1:03 span when Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor scored to turn a 2-1 Blues lead into a 3-2 Jets lead.

Brayden Schenn, who scored the tying goal with goalie Jordan Binnington pulled for an extra attacker with 2:11 remaining, called it, “Just flat. Didn't come out with any energy and didn't really take care of the puck, I would say, and it forced us to play a lot of defense and they were able to capitalize.”

Yes, the Blues played too much defense, from the forwards to the defensemen, not moving the puck well, and it was evident the Blues were on their heels.

The Scheifele goal was only a matter of time, and when the Jets were pounding pucks into the Blues’ zone and at the net, they converged on a loose puck to bang it home. It came after Kyrou tried skating the puck out of the zone, and instead of flipping it into the Winnipeg zone, he got smoked from behind by Logan Stanley, shaking him up a bit, and Winnipeg went on the attack to tie it at 6:30. 

And on Connor’s tiebreaking goal at 7:33, it was a result of a Marco Scandella turnover up the middle of the ice.

Just like that, it was 3-2.

Berube called a time out to tear into his players for being flat.

“A little bit. We didn't push it enough. I called the timeout,” he said. “I thought we got going again more with that hard offense. But we just let them come out of their end too easily and we ended up playing in our end too much.”

As for the Scandella turnover?

“You’ve got to make a stronger play,” Berube said. “I haven't really looked at it yet, but listen, you’ve got to make a stronger play.”

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly (left) works the puck away from Jets center

Mark Scheifele Sunday night at Enterprise Center.

The Blues at one point had been outshot 12-2 to begin the third period. They held the Jets to one shot over the final six minutes, and they did get the equalizer from Schenn, but it was the second time in seven games and third time in 15 they have squandered leads, only to lose the game.

“I just think the whole game. We maybe didn't have enough energy to the building tonight,” Schenn said. “They were a desperate team over there. At times I don't think we matched it at all.

“It was nice to get a point, but we've got to find a way to get two.”

“I didn't think the third period we pushed hard enough to get the next goal,” Berube said.

Blues got the pick-me-up they needed from Husso to fuel 6-2 win over Rangers, halt skid

Goalie makes two tremendous first-period saves, boosts team that had 

lost four straight after three successive failed power plays, including a 5-on-3

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was a sequence that was not working out the way the Blues had hoped.

And for a team in a bit of a rut, playing against a quality opponent in the New York Rangers, the ones that put the Blues in this funk to begin with, things could have snowballed in a bad way.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues goalie Ville Husso (35) pushes to his right as he is about to make a

tremendous right toe save on a shot by Rangers forward Dryden Hunt.

But then came the save, the one that fueled the fire, the one that brought life and energy to a bench sorely needing it, and that bench took it and ran with it. Or they were shot out of a cannon.

Either way, it fueled a 6-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday, ending a four-game skid (0-3-1) and put some positive energy back into the Blues (33-17-7).

As for the sequence, the Blues were given a tremendous opportunity to break the ice against Vezina-leading netminder Igor Shesterkin when they had a 5-on-3 man advantage for 1:07. After failing to score on it, a sequence coach Craig Berube said "wasn't very good," the Blues failed on a third power-play in the game's first 10 minutes. 

The Rangers (36-17-5) gained some momentum and life themselves. They had been outshot 10-0 to begin the game, and then came the chance to break on top.

A 2-on-1 developed, producing a give-and-go with Ryan Strome, with Strome saucering a pass into the blue paint for Hunt. But Husso said "no-no-no," in Dikembe Mutombo-like fashion. The Blues goalie kicked out his right toe just in the nick of time to keep it a scoreless game.

Had the Rangers scored there, the Blues are down 1-0, and a team that had been fighting it the past three-plus games or so, who knows where this could have led Thursday.

"Any time you're in kind of a funk, you need someone to step up and he stepped up huge there," Blues center Robert Thomas said of Husso. "I think it brought a lot of momentum to us. Right after that, we started attacking, we started having chances. That was a huge play for us.

"Starts have been something that we haven't been good at for a little while now. We would have liked to get a power play goal there early, but still a good way to start and it all starts with 'Huus' making some big saves."

Imagine had Husso not made that save? What kind of mindset would have it put the players in had they fell behind 1-0 when they were doing a lot of things right up to that point? It could have been deflating, demoralizing.

It was a key moment in the game.

"Yeah it was," Berube said. "We got 10 shots or nine or eight on the power plays. The 5-on-3 wasn’t very good, but the other ones, guys are shooting and attacking. And then Ville makes a big save. He made some big saves all night.

"When we had a breakdown, it was a doozy tonight and he made big saves."

Not only did Husso do it once, he did it again. This time, on Artemi Panarin with 5:30 remaining in the period. The Blues had already built momentum off the first save, but they really thrived when Husso kicked out the right pad on Panarin's backhand that could have made it a 2-1 game.

"I went to my left, then back to my right," Husso said of the save on Hunt. "I think I went down and then I just tried to get something out there. I was lucky that it hit my toe.

"... Those are skilled players (Panarin) and just need to be patient and kind of wait to see what they do and go from there."

They built a 3-0 lead on goals by Thomas at 13:05, Ivan Barbashev at 13:50 and Thomas again at 15:41. 

The vibes felt good, and positive thoughts were back, all from erasing and eliminating a couple instances of a lack of execution, and the goalie coming up large.

"You know as a goalie, you want to make those saves," Husso said. "Then today we scored right away. So it's big, make a save and then you score so the game is 1-0 there and I think guys did a good job today, scoring and getting into the house. It wasn't easy for their goalie and nice goals from us."

"I think what’s important too, is the guys didn’t lose momentum after the power play," Berube said. "Sometimes frustration sets in, you get upset about it. They didn’t do that. They were fine, kept playing."

And even after the Rangers got a late first-period goal from Strome to make it 3-1, the Blues dusted that aside quickly and chased Shesterkin from the game when Ryan O'Reilly scored 15 seconds into the second for a 4-1 lead.

Game. Set. Match.

"Yeah, it’s important to get a lead," Berube said. "But what’s important is the second period, coming out, scoring right away. And keeping going. I thought late in the second period it was a little sloppy and we were a little loose because of the score. But the third I thought we were better again."

The Blues had to start somewhere. There's no place to go but up when you go four in a row without a win. Could this be a building block? The Blues hope so.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Ivan Barbashev clutches his fists to the crowd after scoring

one of three first-period goals in a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers.

"I think we've been in that situation a lot before," Thomas said after matching his career-high in goals with 10. "Every team's going to go through stretches where they can't seem to win a game or the puck's bouncing against them, that kind of stuff, we're not working as a team. But those kind of parts are critical in a season to either make or break, and our team's found a way to come together closer as a team and sort through it as a team. I think that goes a long way for the guys in the room and those things showed on the ice. I think that's the biggest thing."

"I feel like every team goes through like tough times," Husso said. "We were lucky that it was only a couple games and we just need to get better every day and every game matters right now. Big points every night so we just need to grind and get those wins."

(3-10-22) Rangers-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- As expected, Pavel Buchnevich will not be in the lineup for the Blues (32-17-7) against the New York Rangers (36-15-5) on Thursday (7 p.m.; BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) due to concussion protocol.

Buchnevich was injured with 4:52 remaining in the third period of a 4-1 loss against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday after taking a hit from Senators forward Austin Watson.

Buchnevich, who is third on the Blues with 46 points, tied for second in goals with 19 and fourth in assists with 27, did not practice on Wednesday and was not on the ice for the morning skate today and will be replaced on the lineup by Logan Brown.

"He feels a little bit better today," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That's basically all I can tell with you that right now. ... We lose a real good player, I think, in all aspects of the game. He's in penalty kill, power play, 5-on-5 play, he's been a very good player, a 200-foot player. 

"It's tough. We don't want to lose a player like that for sure, but 'Brownie' will come in and do the job."

Brown has been a healthy scratch the past seven games and will center a line with Brandon Saad and Ivan Barbashev.

"He's going to be motivated to perform," Berube said. "I've got him with Saad and Barbashev, veteran guys. They've got to get the puck deep for him and he can go to work in the offensive zone. That's where his best assets are, down low. He's got skills and getting opportunities around the net, big body."

Brown has three goals and three assists in 18 games this season.

"You can see his enthusiasm, so I think he'll create a spark tonight," Saad said. "I think he's a big part of our team, he has a lot of skill, a lot of size when he's using it so I think it will be fun to see him tonight."

- - -

Defenseman Marco Scandella returns after missing the past 11 games with a lower-body injury.

Scandella, who has been skating with the team off and on -- more so on recently -- will be paired with Colton Parayko, moving Niko Mikkola to the third pair with Robert Bortuzzo and making Jake Walman a healthy scratch.

"It's not fun watching games, being part of the team, not going on the road the last road trip," Scandella said. "It's fun being back with the boys, practicing, being part of the group. 

"We took our time with it, I think we were smart about it, collectively the team and myself and now I know I'm ready to go."

Scandella hasn't played since a 7-4 home loss against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 10, but the injury occurred before then.

"I think it was a little bit of both," he said. "Definitely there was an incident in the New Jersey game that didn't help, but it was something that was lingering for a while and we had to take care of it before we got to a point where I wasn't going to even be able to move. Happy that we're at that point now that we're good and we're back at it."

Berube wants a different look at his d-pairings, feeling the Mikkola-Parayko pair has gone a bit stale.

"I just think Mikkola and Colton are not as sharp as they were and Scandy's played well with Parayko before," Berube said. "He's just coming off an injury, so it's just moving some guys around and seeing what he can do there with Parayko."

- - -

Forward Oskar Sundqvist, who had off-season surgeries on both hips and left knee, will sit out a second straight game with an undisclosed lower-body ailment.

Sundqvist has been skating the past two days but the team feels they need to manage his time and minutes on the ice.

"We're just giving him some time to heal up here," Berube said. "We'll see by the weekend, OK?"

- - -

The Blues announced on Wednesday that Scott Perunovich will have surgery on his left wrist and be re-evaluated in eight weeks, thus putting the defenseman on the sideline for the remainder of the regular season.

The 23-year-old had six assists in 19 games in his NHL debut season and hasn't played since Jan. 15 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"It's tough, you feel for him and us too obviously," Berube said. "We lose a player. He came into camp and he had a great camp. We wanted him to go down and play and he tore up the American League, and we got him up here, he played some time, dropped off a little bit but that's normal. He's got a lot of ability moving the puck and vision, things like that."

Perunovich missed all of last season with a shoulder injury.

"A lot of bad luck with the surgeries and hasn't been able to put together a bunch of games, but he's just got to deal with it and get ready when he gets back," Berube said.

- - -

The Blues are looking to put an end to a season-long four-game losing skid (0-3-1) and get a rematch against the Rangers, who beat the Blues 5-3 in New York March 2.

"It's more about us than our opponent," Saad said. "Obviously we haven't liked the way we've played. Tonight's a good test for us against a good hockey team in our own building to kind of make a statement, so we're looking to get back on track here.

"I think it's just a commitment, playing the right way and doing the right things. There's times where you're going to get frustrated and maybe try and do too much, but for us, we're successful as a team and that's how we're going to come out of this thing. For us, it's just turning our brains on and playing smart hockey.

"I think we know we have to be better, but at the same time, you're going to have adversity throughout a season. It's only going to make you stronger. For us, it's focusing on getting back to our team game. There's going to be frustrations and adversity in a season and you can't let that faze you because it's a long hockey year. For us it's just looking to get back on track."

The Blues have scored just four goals the past 10 periods of hockey going back to the third period against the Rangers when they led 3-2 heading into the third and were outscored 3-0.

"For me, the last three games offensively, we're not there at all," Berube said. "We're not getting into the offensive zone enough because we don't manage things properly and just want to put pucks in deep and go to work. We're not putting the other team in tough enough positions to force them into bad puck plays in their own end and turning pucks over. I just don't think we're getting any slot shot attempts. We were probably tops in the league before these last three or four games. That's something we addressed today. We've got to get the puck to the middle of the ice more and get some more shots. We've got to get our shot attempts up. But in saying that, you've got to make sure that you get to the offensive zone enough and doing a good job.

"It's a bad stretch right now. You've got to get out of it, you've got to work hard, you've got to compete hard and you've got to play together as a team, and you've got to simplify things. It's got to be more of a simple mindset right now. We've got to make the other team defend more than they are, that's the bottom line.

"We're just not doing what we're supposed to do. We're not in sync right now doing the things that were making us successful before. ... We're not consistent for 60 minutes right now. We're not pushing for 60 minutes."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jordan Kyrou-Robert Thomas-Vladimir Tarasenko

Brandon Saad-Logan Brown-Ivan Barbashev  

Mackenzie MacEachern-Tyler Bozak-Alexei Toropchenko

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola-Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Jake Walman. Pavel Buchnevich (concussion protocol), Marco Scandella (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist (lower body) and Scott Perunovich (wrist) are out with injuries.

- - -

The Rangers' projected lineup:

Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Alexis Lafreniere

Artemi Panarin-Ryan Strome-Dryden Hunt

Tim Gettinger-Filip Chytil-Julien Gauthier

Barclay Goodrow-Jonny Brodzinski-Ryan Reaves

Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox

K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba

Patrik Nemeth-Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin will start in goal; Alexandar Georgiev will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Libor Hajek, Greg McKegg and Morgan Barron. Kaapo Kakko (upper body) and Kevin Rooney (upper body) are out.

Buchnevich unlikely to play against Rangers

Forward was injured, put in concussion protocol with hit to 

head in loss against Senators; Scandella inching closer to return

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich is doubtful to play against the New York Rangers on Thursday.

Pavel Buchnevich

Buchnevich was injured and put in concussion protocol when he took a shoulder hit to the head from Ottawa forward Austin Watson with 4:52 remaining of a 4-1 loss against the Senators on Tuesday.

Buchnevich hit his head against the glass and had trouble getting initially to his feet as Brayden Schenn moved the puck into the zone. The Blues were called for offsides with 4:43 remaining and Buchnevich was able to get to the bench.

Blues coach Craig Berube said after the game he thought Buchnevich was fine after the game, but had a much grimmer outlook Wednesday after practice.

"Not very good," Berube said when asked how Buchnevich felt Wednesday.

Asked about his availability against the Rangers, Berube said, "Probably not."

Buchnevich was put in a vulnerable position when teammate Ivan Barbashev flipped a soft backhand back towards the wall from the corner in the offensive zone. Buchnevich tried to get to the puck but was hit by Watson, who is 6-foot-4, 204 pounds.

"It's a little high for me, I don't make those calls, but to me, it's a head shot, but I don't make those calls," Berube said.

If Buchnevich is out for any extended period of time, the likelihood is that Logan Brown will be inserted into the lineup and it could see the Blues shift focus and search for a scoring forward with the NHL trade deadline approaching on March 21.

Buchnevich is third on the Blues with 46 points, tied for second in goals with 19 and fourth in assists with 27.

* Scandella on cusp of returning -- Defenseman Marco Scandella practiced again on Wednesday and Berube said he could be available for selection against the Rangers.

Scandella has missed the past 11 games with a lower-body injury and has not played since Feb. 8 against the New Jersey Devils.

"I think Scandella's ready to go tomorrow," Berube said. "I don't want to say he's going to be in and then he's not. We'll see tomorrow."

* Perunovich to have wrist surgery -- Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich will have surgery on his left wrist and will be re-evaluated in eight weeks, according to the team, putting his timeline in early May.

Perunovich, who hasn't played at NHL game since Jan. 15 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, recently was in Springfield of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment and played in five games. But the Blues placed the rookie on long-term injured reserve.

Perunovich, 23, is scheduled for surgery in New York by Dr. Robert N. Hitchkiss M.D.

The Hibbing, Minn. native played in 19 games for the Blues this season and had six assists; he scored 22 points (three goals, 19 assists) in 17 games for the Thunderbirds this season.

Blues sustain another dismal loss to non-playoff team Tuesday, 4-1 to Senators

0-3-1 funk has left Blues continued effort to search for answers; 

finding a simple game is way out of playing "cute" hockey

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- If it wasn't evident before, it sure as heck should be now.

After another dismal loss, this time on home ice, 4-1 to the Brady Tkachuk-led Ottawa Senators that dropped the Blues' record against non-playoff teams to a not-so-great 16-9-4, the Blues (32-17-7) seem to want to break this mini funk the hard way.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Brayden Schenn (10) looks to make a play by the defending

Senators forward Colin White Tuesday at Enterprise Center.

The way they're obviously going about it isn't working. In the famous words of former coach Ken Hitchcock, the "dingle-dangle" way of playing isn't the way to go about it.

The Blues, 0-3-1 their past four games, tying a season-high for most consecutive losses (also 0-3-1; Nov. 11-16), think they can just hope-finesse their way to wins.

Instead of playing as coach Craig Berube identified after the morning skate Tuesday by being more direct and playing a simpler style, the Blues as a group, find it more entertaining to try the hope plays, making blind passes in their own zone, skate with the puck between their legs and try to beat opponents 1-on-3, play east-west instead of north-south, not be sharper or crisper with their puck possession.

Nobody is expecting perfection. It's impossible at the ultra-fast rate NHL games are played at these days. But the decision-making by a group that's better than it's showing these days is mind-boggling to not only a coaching staff but a fan base that's all of the sudden growing increasingly frustrating.

"It's not always pretty, right? Sometimes you get in these funks where you just need to kind of put your nose to the grindstone and just work," defenseman Justin Faulk said. "I think there's no lack of talent, that's for sure, in that room in making plays and executing as a group but you kind of get into these funks once in a while and we’ve got to be able to see it through on the other side of that. 

"Sometimes it is tough, you don't execute and you got to kind of cut your losses there and just go to a game that's pretty simple and sometimes just build a greasy one to kind of get ourselves out of it. And I think that's kind of where we're where we're headed here, we had definitely a better effort tonight than we did previous two games I think. But not comfortable with it by any means but it happens once in a while and we just need to find a way out of it by working hard."

A team that's trying to establish itself as a playoff team, someone that considers itself a contender, isn't doing itself any favors these days, and this recent funk has come against -- aside from the New York Rangers -- non-contending teams, or teams well out of the playoff race.

"You just said it, we're in a funk, we hit adversity," forward Brayden Schenn said. "Usually at some point through 82 games, most teams hit it and right now it's obviously us. Is the timing ideal on it? Probably not. But I think it's going to make us better in the long run and it's not going to be smooth sailing for all 82 and like you said, we're going to find a way to put our nose down, keep on working and grind through it. It's never easy coming out of things like this, but it just takes one game to get you going again and move forward to the next one."

Tuesday was actually looking promising in the first period. Slow starts have been an issue for the Blues going back a ways, but Tuesday, that wasn't the case. They outshot the Senators 10-5 and were tied 1-1 but the Blues could have exited the period with a lead with some strong zone time, but another issue, inexplicably refusing to shoot pucks when presented, was on display in the first 20.

"There's probably times. We'll look at the tape," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I'm sure there's a few plays. There always is where we probably could have shot more. We probably could have shot it instead of looking for the pretty play."

There are those words again ... pretty play. 

There's no secret that the Blues have the skill and players that can make those pretty plays. When they execute them, it looks world class. But there's a time and place for those kinds of plays, and when you're trying to fine-tune your game and work your way out of a funk, the Blues are better suited to get back to the meat and potatoes of the game.

Nobody likes playing that style. It may seem boring, but when this team puts on the work boots and grinds the opposition down, they can be suffocating.

Right now, the Blues are infuriating more than anything.

"I thought it was better tonight, but I agree with that, simplifying in certain situations where we don't turn it over," Berube said. "... It's showing video and talking to guys, trying to get them to play a simpler game right now because things aren't going very well. We're not executing out there. You don't have your 'A' game, you're not right on top of your game right now, which we're not, it's important that you don't give the other team freebies."

And the Blues gave up at least two, if not, three "freebies" on Tuesday against a team that had lost five in a row and was outscored 20-9.

On Tim Stutzle's goal at 11:35 of the first that made it 1-0, David Perron made one of those hope plays, an ill-advised backhand pass along the defensive zone boards through the middle of the ice that hometown's Brady Tkachuk picked off before Perron tripped him up, earning the Senators a power play, which Stutzle scored on.

"The first penalty, there's no reason to make that play," Berube said. "You've got a play where you can just make a simple play."

We keep coming back to that word: simple.

The second goal was another power-play goal, by Josh Norris 1:24 into the second after Perron did tie it up in the first at 14:43 when linemate Ryan O'Reilly worked his tail off to hunt a puck down, win it and feed Perron in the slot, but Norris scored on a one-timer that squirted through Jordan Binnington from the right circle.

Maybe you say that's one the goalie would like to squeeze, but in the third, another one of those hope plays turned into a goal against.

Ivan Barbashev this time, in a similar position as Perron on the ice, along the right side boards, instead of just simply chipping a puck safely out of the zone, keeping it out of harm's way, inexplicably went to the backhand, through the middle of the ice, gets it picked off by Norris, he feeds Tkachuk in the left circle and Tkachuk makes no mistake, 3-1 at 7:48.

"We give up the third goal there, same thing," Berube said. "We can't make that play. Turn it over, it's in our net."

Not exactly a good recipe for a team that suddenly has produced four goals in its past 10 periods of hockey dating to the third against the Rangers, who by the way are coming to town Thursday, last Wednesday.

The offense will get itself together once the players instinctively funnel pucks to the net and of course, get traffic, which has become more so than not, non-existent again. Oh, and not over-thinking by making more passes than necessary waiting for the perfect shot opportunity. There were multiple distinctive shifts when the Blues had ample zone time, only to play four corners around the perimeter instead of working it between the dots.

But it all comes down to making the proper puck decisions, and more times than not, it's coming from the defensive zone, or in the neutral zone, that enables the five-man units to work effectively, and right now, that's not happening.

"Yeah, I think that's on us forwards," Schenn said. "I think that's kind of what builds our game is putting the puck in the right areas to forecheck and sometimes you can't make a play every time, and maybe when your offense isn't coming, you over-complicate it sometimes. Maybe that's as a five-man unit out there, maybe we're doing that at times."

The Blues will get back to work on Wednesday and practice. They sit in second in the Central Division with 71 points, but the margin for error is getting awfully thin. It's going to have to start to right itself pretty quick and by doing so, the safest way is to just be simple and predictable. Because the unpredictability is leading them down a road to nowhere.

"Keep working," Berube insisted after the game. "We've got to keep looking at things and fix it. Guys will get their mojo back and they'll start executing again, I really believe that and we'll start scoring goals. Right now, we're not getting enough opportunities to score goals, we're not getting enough power plays and when we do get power plays, it's not very good. The execution offensively, we're not very good right now with the puck, we're not executing, there's a lot of shots getting blocked, we're just not generating enough shots right now. That's a big part of the game.

"I didn't see (frustration) tonight. I thought the effort was there tonight. We just weren't mentally sharp."

And they were outworked, which this crop of players hasn't been accused of much. Even when things haven't gone well, they at least work. That's been an area of inconsistency that needs to change.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Tyler Bozak (21) and Senators center Dylan Gambrell battle

for a loose puck on Tuesday at Enterprise Center.

"I would say maybe the last two games before tonight weren't our greatest efforts for sure," Faulk said. "But just in general, I don't think this team lacks effort by any means. We got a lot of guys that love to compete and do well. Every single player in that room loves to succeed in whatever aspect and sometimes like I said, it's just understanding that things aren't necessarily going your way once in a while and being okay with that and living with that and knowing that you have to almost simplify and go the opposite way, not make it pretty, don't try and do anything too crazy out there and just find your way out of it that way. You can get stuck, I think, once a while if you try and make it too pretty, too cute and whatnot. There's no lack of effort in our group."

"It's on us players in the room to figure it out," Schenn said. "We have too much talent, too much pride in that room and we will. Like I said before, it's adversity right now and we'll work our way through it here starting next game."