MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Jim
Montgomery walked into his Friday press conference on Friday and all
he needed was a stoneware-type butter churn.
Because
that’s what the St. Louis Blues coach was doing with his hands and
making the sounds when asked about his thoughts on putting the
forward lines through a makeover at practice.
Here’s
what the lines looked like and the expected lineup on Saturday when
the Blues (2-2-0), coming off a rough 8-3 loss to the Chicago
Blackhawks on Wednesday, host the Dallas Stars (3-1-0):
“We’re
going to blender it up,” Montgomery
said.
“We just want to see different people. There’s some of these
combinations that I thought, ‘You know what, it’s always going to
present itself.’ You’re always going to go through a situation
where we’re not generating enough offensively, we’re turning over
too many pucks. It’s just the way we are right now, so I want to
find more speed offensively, be a little more vertical on entries and
we’re trying to put people that complement each other well. We
thought we had that before, but season’s long, it might end up back
that way in another two weeks because we know the way it was has
worked before.”
The
power play also got a makeover, with new units that have Robert
Thomas at
the goal line/ net front with Jordan Kyrou and Dylan Holloway on the
flanks with Pavel Buchnevich in the bumper and Cam Fowler on the
point; the other unit had Jake Neighbours at the net front, Jimmy
Snuggerud and Brayden Schenn on the flanks, Pius Suter in the bumper
and Justin Faulk on the point.
“There’s
no flow, there’s no mojo when we go over the boards right now,”
Montgomery
said.
“It’s been OK, the power play. We’re generating chances, but
the momentum it’s given our team’s not at the level we want, so
we’ve gone with one unit where we put Kyrou and Thomas back
together, and the other unit, we get to see Snuggerud on the elbow
and get to use his shot.”
Young Blues Winger Hits 100-Point Mark
St. Louis Blues’ Jake Neighbours hit the 100-point mark in his NHL career after the former 2020, 26th overall pick recorded a goal and an assist against the Chicago Blackhawks.
