ST. LOUIS — For as much as he does, Pavel Buchnevich can be the St. Louis Blues’ best player. In two years since being acquired from the New York Rangers, he’s been among the team’s highest scorers, arguably its top two-way player and perhaps its best penalty-killing forward.
But any conversation about Buchnevich being the Blues’ MVP has to include a qualifier: “If he stays healthy.”
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Through training camp and early in the season, Buchnevich’s potential playing on the No. 1 line with Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas seemed infinite. However, once again, the 28-year-old is facing another possible setback. He left the Blues’ 2-1 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Blues coach Craig Berube ruled out a concussion, but he didn’t rule out the possible seriousness of the injury. On most occasions when a player leaves the game, Berube will say someone’s fine or will be re-evaluated. But, while not disclosing the nature of the injury, his response didn’t come across as promising.
“I don’t know what the significance of it is right now,” Berube said. “It’s unfortunate.”
The Blues are scheduled to practice Sunday at Centene Community Ice Center, and perhaps an update will be provided.
Buchnevich was injured on a Blues power play with under four minutes left in the first period. He was standing below the goal line when captain Brayden Schenn missed a shot from the front of the net and the puck went to the end board.
Buchnevich was positioning his body to protect the puck when Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak gave him a cross-check, and he fell awkwardly toward the boards and onto the ice.
Berube didn’t have a good enough view to have an opinion on the play.
“It was hard (to see) from my angle,” he said. “I’ll watch it on tape and see what it looks like.”
Buchnevich’s stick broke when he went down. When he got back on his skates, he abandoned it and skated a beeline to the Blues’ bench. He didn’t return.
“That’s a tough loss for us, but we’ll figure out what’s going on,” Blues forward Brandon Saad said.
With Buchnevich out, Saad moved up to the top line with Kyrou and Thomas. They logged 9 minutes, 49 seconds of five-on-five ice time together and looked good, accounting for the Blues’ lone goal in regulation.
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“I thought we played pretty well,” Saad said. “We created some momentum, had a couple chances, scored a goal. I thought it was pretty good overall.”
Kyrou scored the goal about eight minutes into the second period, tying the score 1-1. Kyrou broke up Seattle’s offensive possession, creating a three-on-two for the Blues heading the other way.
Kyrou worked a give-and-go with Thomas before putting the puck past Kraken goalie Joey Daccord.
“Yeah, we’re really focusing on our defensive side this year,” Kyrou said. “Good defense leads to offense, and that’s what happened there.”
Kyrou has often been criticized for his poor play in the defensive zone, but that wasn’t the case Saturday.
“He tracked hard in the game,” Berube said. “He was skating tonight and Thomas was skating hard tonight. They were good. It’s a defense-to-offense situation. We’ll keep preaching that and keep trying to tighten it up and play good defense.”
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The line of Saad-Thomas-Kyrou had five scoring chances and allowed just two, according to Natural Stat Trick, along with an expected goal share of 65.42 percent.
“(Saad) was good,” Berube said. “He’s played with those guys before and they’ve been pretty successful. He drives hard with the puck and gets it down low, recovers it, and he’s heavy on it and goes to the net. I thought they were good together.”
If Buchnevich misses any games, it could be Saad who stays with those two, and if so, he has a handle on how to play with them.
“Always be ready for the puck,” Saad said. “They’re so good, highly skilled, fast players. When you least expect it, it’s coming your way. So they’re great players and a lot of fun to play with. It was great to get the opportunity tonight.”
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Meanwhile, Alexey Toropchenko took Saad’s place on the second line with Schenn, and Kasperi Kapanen and had an active night in 15:28 of ice time. He directed three shots at the net, added a takeaway and blocked two attempts.
“That’s a tough loss there, and guys just got to step up in his spot,” Kyrou said. “Guys did that today. Buchy is one of our best players and he’s great all-around, so it sucks to see him get hurt. But like I said, guys got to step up.”
Buchnevich joined the Blues at the start of the 2021-22 season and has played 138 of 166 regular-season games. He missed two of those after being suspended for head-butting Arizona’s Lawson Crouse, but he missed the rest with a variety of injuries, including an ankle contusion last year that led to an infection and required a minor operation.
Berube wouldn’t go as far as saying that Buchnevich has been snakebitten with injuries.
“I mean, that play tonight, behind the net, he got hit pretty hard there,” Berube said. “That’s hockey. I’m not going to say anything like that. Buchy gets in there and he’s involved, and sometimes it’s just bad luck.”
The loss of Buchnevich would be plain bad for the Blues, who rely heavily on his versatility.
“I haven’t seen him yet, so I’m not sure what his status is or anything,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “But he’s a big player for us, a key player, on the ice and in the locker room. Hopefully, he’s all right, and we come back (Sunday) and get some good news.”
Fortunately for the Blues, they’re off for the next four days, not playing again until they host Arizona on Thursday.
With or without Buchnevich, they need a lot of work on their offense, particularly their power play. They’ve scored just two goals in their two games, and the power play is 0-for-7 with just two shots. The team’s penalty-killing unit, in fact, has more shot attempts (three) than the power play.
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The Blues registered 25 shots on goal Saturday but had 14 blocked by the Kraken and 18 that missed the net.
“We’ve got to find a way to score a few more goals,” Berube said. “We’re just not clean right now with our shooting, power play included. We’ve got to work on that and try to tighten that up a little bit and get cleaner with the puck.”
On the bright side, Jordan Binnington is keeping the puck out of the Blues’ net. He made 30 saves in Saturday’s win, including one in the final minute of overtime.
In two games this season, he’s allowed two goals on 65 shots (.969 save percentage).
“Incredible,” Parayko said. “Big saves, big moments! Unreal in the shootout, penalty kill, five-on-five, just overall. Kept us in the game, and he was incredible. It’s nice to have him back there for us.”
(Photo of Pavel Buchnevich checking Seattle’s Alex Wennberg on Saturday: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
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