Blues Moving Forward Back To Familiar Position (For Now)

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Pavel Buchnevich is going back to a familiar position.

At least for one game.

The St. Louis Blues forward, who has committed himself to playing the center position for the long haul heading into this season, will at least move back to a comfortable spot on the ice for Saturday's game against the Washington Capitals: back to the wing.

That's one of the changes the coaching staff made to the line combinations at practice on Friday:

The Blues moved Buchnevich to left wing in the third period with Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou, and it proved immediate dividends when Buchnevich won a battle along the wall, winning a puck back, before he and Kyrou worked a give and go play where Buchnevich picked up his second assist of the game, setting up Kyrou for the one-timer in the third period of a 4-2 loss against Utah Hockey Club:

"Yesterday I thought when we did it in the third period, he started to get a little bit of traction and obviously they scored the one goal," Blues coach Drew Bannister said of Buchnevich. "Yesterday was not a good game for us, so we have to make some changes and that was one of the changes that we felt we'd make. Whether we stick with it, but as of tomorrow, we want to try something different."

Making the play to Kyrou and the work Buchnevich put in along the wall and working to get back into the offensive zone looked like some familiar things in his game playing off the wing, bringing forth a level of confidence.

"We'll see next game," Buchnevich said. "I just feel like I'm cruising in the middle (who) doesn't affect the game a lot," Buchnevich said. "I'm just trying to do my best defensively and play against top guys."

Buchnevich does have nine points (four goals, five assists) in 14 games and would project him for 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) in an 82-game season. Not bad but not to his standards. The defensive side of defending against top lines has bee pretty good, but it's affecting the offense. And the face-off stats are unfortunately off the charts bad: he's 45-for-146, which is good for 30.8 percent, or just a shade below his  career average (31.4 percent), including 10-for-52 (19.2 percent the past five games).

"He likes playing center. He likes the opportunity," Bannister said. "He's doing everything in his power to learn the position. I think the defensive part of the game comes very easily for 'Buchy' and he's been very good and committed to that. The face-off part, he's been working at. He's finding himself chasing a lot of pucks. It's not because he isn't trying at it. He's been working at it. I think the offensive side is something he's trying to find himself a little bit, playing the center ice and getting the opportunities and touches he needs to feel involved in the game. That's probably where he's kind of searching for his game through the middle on the offensive side.

"I think it's repetition (with face-offs). You're going up against centermen that have been doing that for their whole life. When you have somebody that hasn't taken a lot of draws, I think it's incumbent on the wingers to help out a little bit more on the communication of what you're trying to do. If you are going to tie up the draw, create more 50/50's and help out on the edge battles instead of losing draws clean."

But focusing so much on the other aspects of playing center has affected Buchnevich offensively, with one goal (five points) the past 11 games and just 15 shots on goal.

"He does put a lot of pressure on himself, especially offensively, but defensively I think he's played very well for us," Bannister said. "He saw a lot of tough matchups playing against other teams' top lines. He's done a real good job, but I think the frustration, at least for him, he wants to contribute offensively all he time too. He puts a lot of pressure on himself that way.

"Tomorrow's just a game. We'll move forward as we see fit. Right now, we're just going to play him on the wing for a game, but I still think he can be a real good centerman for us."