MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The well has been, let's just say, dry for the St. Louis Blues offense to start the season.
Goals have been tough to come by, to say the least.
They're 31st in goals for at 1.86 per game, and if not for the woeful San Jose Sharks, who are averaging an unprecedented 1.00 goals per game, the Blues would be dead last; and St. Louis is dead last in power-play efficiency at 4.8 percent, starting off the season at 1-for-21, and they're also 31st in shots per game at 24.7, ahead of -- you guessed it -- San Jose (23.8).
So at practice Sunday, coach Craig Berube had the line shuffle going:
Buchnevich-Thomas-Kapanen
Saad-Schenn-Kyrou
Vrana-Hayes-Neighbours
Blais-Alexandrov-Sundqvist
* Toropchenko (lower body) not skating
The most notable changes included moving Kasperi Kapanen up to the top line and putting Jordan Kyrou with Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad; Jakub Vrana, after being a healthy scratch the past two games, was with Kevin Hayes and Jake Neighbours and Nikita Alexandrov was in for Alexey Toropchenko, who missed practice with a lower-body injury.
"I think just a little more balance that way, but also we're not producing like we should be," Berube said. "Mix it up a little bit and see if we can get some more goals.
And how can they do that?
"I think our forecheck can be a lot better," Kyrou said. "We can be just a little more connected as well. We're kind of playing a little spread right now, not supporting each other, and that makes it harder on each guy, right? The more you can support each other, the more you can do give-and-go plays and get more chances like that."
Kapanen with Buchnevich and Thomas is a result of what Berube said, is hard work.
"He's a worker. He's going to get in there and forecheck, he's going to be hounding all the time," Berube said of Kapanen. "We'll see how those combinations work out."
Kyrou and Schenn have played together before in the past.
"I've played with 'Schenner' a bunch before," Kyrou said. "We have great chemistry, right? I think it's good for us. Change up lines a little bit, get a little bit of adifferent look, get a different spark in us."
Changes didn't just come with the forward lines, though.
The defensive pairs saw some changes too, with Marco Scandella moving up to pair with Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy and Tyler Tucker together:
Scandella-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Leddy-Tucker
* Perunovich-Bortuzzo
"Scandy's played with Parayko before in the past, and they've played well together," Berube said. "Leddy's a good puck mover and handles the puck. Just put a puck mover with every pair almost. I know 'Scandy' and 'Tucks' were together, but I thought I'd just try Leddy down there with him."
Scandella said, "We're just trying things early in the season. No surprises. We've played a couple shifts this year together too. I feel like we're all comfortable with each other. We've had this group for a long time now. Just got to be ready. It's all about the next game."
Tucker has been a healthy scratch the past two games, replaced by Robert Bortuzzo and Scott Perunovich when the Blues implemented 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
"I thought that Calgary game, they gave us what we thought they'd give us in the game," Berube said. "'Borts' had a presence out there in the game obviously and did a good job, and 'Perun' moved the puck pretty well in the Calgary game, didn't get a ton of power play time because we didn't get a ton of power plays, but not bad. Limited minutes right, limited minutes so it wasn't too bad."
