Livescore
Blues head coach Craig Berube didn’t hold back on Thursday night when discussing his team’s performance vs. the Canucks.
“A lot of our best players (are) not doing the job,” Berube said. “I guess they don’t care about the team, I don’t know.
“Our best players don’t play with any passion, no emotion and no inspiration at all,” Berube later said. “They don’t play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit, being inspired.”
Craig Berube on what’s going wrong for the #stlblues right now: “A lot of our best players not doing the job.”
In response to @jthom1 asking why that’s the case: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them, Jim. I guess they don’t care about the team.” pic.twitter.com/zS5iDGradb— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) February 24, 2023
St. Louis fell 3-2 in overtime to Vancouver, blowing a 2-1 lead with under 30 seconds to go in regulation before Elias Pettersson potted the OT winner for the Canucks.
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Why Craig Berube called out Blues top players
The loss marked the fourth in a row for the club. The Blues are now 11 points behind the Avalanche for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with the Flames and Predators ahead of them as well.
While the Blues grabbed a point in the loss, the team was outshot 41-22 and was sloppy with the puck, giving it away 13 times while the Canucks did just once.
“They’re getting paid lots of money … and they’re not doing their job, end of story,” Berube said of the performance from his top players.
Who was Craig Berube talking about?
With Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko out of St. Louis via trades, forwards Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou are the new top dogs, and they have not been getting it done. The pair have just a single assist between them during this losing skid.
Berube kept it simple when asked about the pair and their play.
“Not good enough. Not even close.”
While there was plenty of criticism handed out by the coach, Berube also praised a few of his players. He made sure to give credit to goaltender Jordan Binnington (38 saves), rookie defenseman Tyler Tucker (one goal) and forward Pavel Buchnevich (one assist, four shots on goal).
He also singled out forward Alexei Toropchenko, who had a shorthanded goal and four blocked shots. Berube called his game “outstanding” and that others should be following the lead of the 23-year-old.
“(Players) should be very, very happy that we got this guy on our team and that he’s laying it on the line,” Berube said of Toropchenko. “They should be inspired by it and they should go out and play inspired.”
John Kelly said it better than we could:
“Buchnevich, Toropchenko, in the clear… he shoots, HE SCORES!!! Toropchenko, a shorthanded goal!”@budlight | #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/45tDSsdW35
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 24, 2023
Toropchenko is in his second season with the Blues. The contest on Thursday was the Russian’s 73rd game in his NHL career, yet, he was echoing Berube’s statement about the effort from his teammates.
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“Even if we are not in a playoff spot, I will do everything,” Toropchenko said. “It’s a hockey game, you cannot leave, especially if you’re playing in the NHL. You’re not playing somewhere else in a beer league or something like that.
“You need to show something. You need to show heart, character and to be strong everywhere. Just play from your heart.”
The Blues are in the national spotlight next, as the team faces the Penguins at home on Saturday afternoon. Puck drop is at 3:30 p.m. for the game that is being aired on ABC.
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