Kyrou talks being a healthy scratch, ready to move forward, play better; Sundqvist out for second straight game; Hofer rewarded with another start following shutout
ST. LOUIS – Jordan Kyrou got the message, and the St. Louis Blues forward is ready and willing to forge ahead.
Kyrou will be back in the lineup on Saturday when the Blues (5-8-2) open a four-game homestand against the Seattle Kraken (6-3-4) at 6 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
After being a healthy scratch in a 3-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, a move that got the attention of not only the Blues’ locker room, their fans and outside the city parameters, Kyrou goes back in and will skate with Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn.
“I’m just trying to focus on getting ready tonight, next game,” Kyrou said. “Obviously big win from the guys last game and we needed that. I’m just ready to go tonight.
“I just need to work harder. Obviously I’ve got to be a little better. I’m just going to go out there and try to work tonight and just play my game. … I think I can be a lot better. Go out there, work and just play hard.”
To say it was a wakeup call to the group is an understatement, but one that most certainly got everyone’s attention. But the Blues expect Kyrou to come back with a vengeance.
“There’s really no other way,” said Blues forward Mathieu Joseph, who was a healthy scratch Wednesday against the Washington Capitals but came back with a goal and two assists Thursday. “Jordan is such an important part of this team. Not just because of his God-given ability to score goals and possess the puck but also skate in terms of the player he is for a team and how much of an impact he has for our top six and nine. Obviously you want him to be at his best. I’m really positive he’s going to have a strong game tonight.”
Blues coach Jim Montgomery also feels the same way but made a decision at the time that he felt was best for the team.
“That’s what you hope for is that you get a response like Joseph did,” Montgomery said. “He was very determined. You could see intensity in his eyes.
“It’s a privilege to get to wear the Blues uniform, it’s a privilege to play games in this league, and that’s the kind of response you want is what Mathieu Joseph gave us.
“I’m not going to get into specifics about my players. Everybody has a role and a responsibility on the team. When you don’t live up to your standard, you risk the chance of coming out of the lineup. It could have been a lot of guys. That’s just the way I ended up making my decision.”
Kyrou was taken aback by the choice.
“A little bit,” he said. “Just trying to focus on today and ready for tonight’s game.
“Obviously things haven’t been going our way this year, as a group. Obviously I can try to be better and just try to lead a little more by example.”
Montgomery said he appreciated the way Kyrou handled the situation.
“It’s a hard situation. I thought he handled it like a pro,” the coach said. “I thought he worked really hard in Buffalo. The reports that I got from the assistant coaches is that he really worked. And he supported his teammates well. This morning, he showed up and he’s in a good frame of mind, and I’m giving him an opportunity to respond and I expect him to be good tonight.
“I think just his speed, attacking defensemen creates anxiety on the other team, puts them on their heels. That’s what we expect from him is to put teams on their heels. Because of that, because of the way he strips people from behind when he’s reloading and he’s being tenacious on pucks.”
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The question begs to be asked then that if Kyrou could get scratched, what about other players? One in particular is Pavel Buchnevich, who is yet without a goal at even strength this year and drawing the ire of fans with each passing game.
“I think defensively, he’s been good,” Montgomery said. “On the penalty kill, he’s been doing his job. Offensively, he’s not up to the standard that we expect from him.”
Thomas is another player that had some ice time sliced Thursday. He didn’t play the final 9:18 of the second period before returning back to his regular shifts in the third.
“I want him to dig in, I want him to be the player that’s really good and playing the right way in all three zones,” Montgomery said. “He’s coming back from an injury, we just played three in four. When you’re coming back and you’ve been out for a while, there’s a conditioning aspect, so I’ve got to be mindful of his minutes.”
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Coming off a 27-save shutout on Thursday, Joel Hofer will start in consecutive games for the first time this season.
“I’ve always thought that if a goalie has a shutout, he should start the next game unless you’re on a hard back-to-back with travel and less than 24 hours and you’ve given up like 40 shots, that’s a hard back-to-back for any goalie,” Montgomery said. ‘He got a shutout, he played great, he’s the reason we won. He’s the No. 1 reason why we won, he deserves the opportunity to get us going on a roll.”
Hofer has bounced back with two strong starts after three clunkers, two of which he was pulled from.
“What people don’t know about Joel Hofer is that he’s incredibly competitive and he’s a tough-minded individual,” Montgomery said. “Adversity doesn’t set him back. It’s not woe is me. He works harder, he digs in. I think that’s what we’re seeing. We’re seeing someone that … yeah, maybe he had a couple starts that weren’t his best. That’s not going to affect the way he attacks his preparation for the next game. He believes in a process. He’s not worried about the results. That’s where our team needs to get consistently as well.”
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Blues defenseman Philip Broberg continues to evolve in front of everyone’s eyes.
The blueliner played in a regular-season career-high 27:09 on Thursday and had four blocks in the game and is becoming quite the shutdown force for this defensive unit.
“He’s our biggest impact player on our team right now at both ends of the ice,” Montgomery said. ‘He’s using his strengths from within the structure that we want to play with, to support offense, to kill plays defensively. He has the confidence to do stuff with the puck right now that not a lot of our players have the confidence to do offensively. Our second goal, it all starts with him. He kills the play at the blue line, he forces them to dump it in, he goes back and gets it because his partner holds up for him. He fakes one way, turns the puck up, sees what’s in front of him, puts it off the glass, we get a 2-on-1, and the 2-on-1 gets a turnover, the puck comes back out, we get a quick-up and we get the goal. It all starts with him.
“He attacks hard areas. He’s attacking the net. We’ve seen him score two wraparound goals this year. If you attack hard areas, scoring chance areas, you’re going to draw more penalties. If we can get more people doing that, hopefully we start getting four opportunities on the power play instead of I think we’re averaging two.”
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Speaking of Joseph, he admitted that he wasn’t happy with being a healthy scratch but the only way to prove those wrong and atone for sitting is putting his head down and working as hard as he always does. Joseph admitted it’s OK to be pissed off because it can fuel your game.
“A hundred percent. For sure,” he said. ‘I wasn’t happy obviously being healthy-scratched on Wednesday. Watching the game, obviously not happy. I had a little bit of a day off there, a little bit of a reset and got to be ready for the next game. But the thing in this league is you have to do it every night, day in, day out, night in, night out. It was a good game, whatever, but there’s another one tonight and you have to repeat that.
“I didn’t feel like I really changed anything with my game. I’ve been playing that way since the beginning of the year. I just really didn’t really have any bounces my way since the start of the year. … Obviously my response was good, but at the same time, I feel like I really haven’t changed anything. I’ve just got to play like that every night.”
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Blues projected lineup
Brayden Schenn-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Dylan Holloway-Pius Suter-Pavel Buchnevich
Alexey Toropchenko-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jimmy Snuggerud
Mathieu Joseph-Nick Bjugstad-Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker-Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Oskar Sundqvist, Alexandre Texier and Logan Mailloux. Jake Neighbours (leg) is out.
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Kraken projected lineup
Jaden Schwartz-Matty Beniers-Kaapo Kakko
Berkly Catton-Chandler Stephenson-Jordan Eberle
Mason Marchment-Shane Wright-Ryan Winterton
Tye Kartye-Ben Meyers-Eeli Tolvanen
Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson
Ryan Lindgren-Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura-Jamie Oleksiak
Philipp Grubauer will start in goal; Matt Murray will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Cale Fleury and Jani Nyman. Joey Daccord (upper body), Ryker Evans (upper body), Frederick Gaudreau (upper body) and Jared McCann (lower body) are out.
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