The Blues will be without Pavel Buchnevich on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild after the forward returned to St. Louis for the birth of his child, the team announced early Thursday afternoon.
Buchnevich’s absence is a notable one for the Blues in the second game of a three-game road trip. He is one of St. Louis’ key penalty-kill forwards, and he had just delivered three assists in Tuesday’s 7-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.
The timing is significant because the Blues are trying to build on a 3-2-1 start and are looking for their first three-game winning streak in October since the start of the 2022-23 season. After Wednesday’s practice, Jim Montgomery said the team had an opportunity to win three in a row and stressed the challenge ahead against a Wild team he described as highly competitive and physical.
“We need to have success on the road this year; we didn’t have enough of it within our own division,” Montgomery said, while also noting that St. Louis was focused on itself and on being ready from the puck drop in Minnesota.
The Wild entered Thursday at 4-2-1 and were dealing with several players out of the lineup, but Minnesota still presents a difficult test. For the Blues, Buchnevich’s absence means a short-term adjustment to both the top end of the lineup and the penalty kill as they try to keep their momentum going on the road.
The team did not announce a replacement for Buchnevich in the lineup at the time of the update.
