Blues sending message to team: Kyrou is a healthy scratch. Which Blues team shows up Thursday? The one that played well Monday against Edmonton, or the one that regressed and got smoked in Washington on Wednesday? Hofer to get cage after relief appearance Wednesday
Well, you wanted a shakeup, you got it.
When words like “unacceptable” and “don’t compete and battle” were spoken on Wednesday, words heard before, including this early in the season for the St. Louis Blues, one could expect something to happen.
Coach Jim Montgomery is trying to shake things up and in doing so, the Blues appear to be making Jordan Kyrou a healthy scratch, according to Joey Vitale, when they play the second of a back-to-back against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (6 p.m.; FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The above words came from Montgomery and captain Brayden Schenn following just a perplexing 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday that Montgomery said the game got away from the Blues “from the drop of the puck. … We weren’t ready to play. We didn’t start on time, and we got worse after the first period.”
How is that possible after what’s been said the past number of days of building in the right direction, at least for the previous three games, and backing it up with a solid 3-2 win against the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers? This is also the same Blues group that put together a strong, solid 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars prior to going on a seven-game skid (0-5-2).
But this is where they are on Thursday, and there’s no time to mince words anymore because there’s another game for the Blues (4-8-2) on back-to-back days, this time against the Sabres (5-4-4), who have lost once in regulation (5-1-4) the past 10 games after starting 0-3-0. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
But Wednesday’s game was a major step back from the past three games that resembled more like the results of earlier when the Blues were allowing five goals or more in consecutive games. They’ve done that now seven times (50 percent of their games) on the season.
“We don't compete and battle and in this league you're going to get your butts kicked most nights,” Schenn said following Wednesday’s game. “It's happened way too many nights over and over again. Until we show up to the rink and compete for one another and for your teammates, then we'll start getting results.”
Now might be a good time for that to start happening before things really fall off the rails here and they’re put in a situation of another second-half run that doesn’t happen often.
But the Blues, uncommon on back-to-backs, had a full morning skate Thursday following a game night.
“This is unacceptable tonight, it's that simple,” Montgomery said postgame. “We have to dig in starting tomorrow morning when we wake up, have a good skate tomorrow and get ready to play the Sabres tomorrow night and show up for our fans, our city and our owners.”
In sitting Kyrou Thursday, this is not just a message for Kyrou, who has four goals and four assists – all part of a career-high eight-game point streak – in 14 games this season but no points in the past four games, but it is (or should) serve as a message for the entire group that accountability for poor play this season is not going to be tolerated.
Also, Oskar Sundqvist (undisclosed injury) looks like will not play Thursday either. The forward did block a shot in the game Wednesday and took only one shift in the third period but did not play the final 16-plus minutes.
With Kyrou and Sundqvist out, that would put Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier in the lineup against the Sabres.
And … after coming on in relief of Jordan Binnington, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 15 shots, Joel Hofer, who stopped 15 of 17 shots, will get the start against the Sabres, a game he was originally planned to start anyway.
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The Blues' projected lineup is fluid and will be known pregame (or updated when available), but Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Jordan Kyrou and Logan Mailloux. Jake Neighbours (leg) and Oskar Sundqvist (undisclosed, presumably lower body) are out.
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Sabres Projected Lineup:
Alex Tuch-Ryan McLeod-Tage Thompson
Isak Rosen-Noag Ostlund-Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway-Peyton Krebs-Josh Doan
Beck Malenstyn-Tyson Kozak-Josh Dunne
Mattias Samuelsson-Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power-Conor Timmins
Bowen Byram-Michael Kesselring
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will start in goal; Colten Ellis will be the backup.
The healthy scratches include Alex Lyon, Jacob Bryson and Mason Geertsen. Jason Zucker (illness), Jiri Kulich (illness), Zach Benson (lower body), Justin Danforth (lower body) and Josh Norris (upper body) are all out.
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