Jordan Kyrou ‘humming’ to start road trip as Blues praise his team-first game

TORONTO For so much of Jordan Kyrous success in St.

Louis, its been easy to find who was right beside him.

As Kyrou broke out into a two-time 30-goal scorer and near point-per-game producer, Robert Thomas was often next to him.

Whether at even-strength or on the power play in the three previous seasons, Kyrou played more with Thomas than he did without him.

Kyrou played 2,249 minutes with Thomas, about 700 more than Kyrou played with his next closest teammate.

They both made All-Star Games.

They both signed matching contract extensions.

They both cemented themselves as key parts of the ongoing Blues transition.

Now, with Thomas out six weeks with a fractured ankle, Kyrou will have to step up his play in order to keep the Blues afloat without their best player.

It began on Thursday night with a two-assist performance from Kyrou in which he could have been the Blues best player.

Even going back to last game, hes a team-first player right now, Blues coach Drew Bannister said.

Hes playing team hockey.

I was impressed with his game last game.

I know the offense will come.

Weve talked about getting more pucks to the net.

I thought I saw an effort today.

But I just think hes playing team hockey.

He wants to win hockey games, and hes doing whatever it takes right now to win hockey games.

Both of Kyrous assists were primary helpers.

In the first period, he collected a puck in the faceoff circle, looped behind the Maple Leafs net all the way to the blue line, cut back down the wall and then pivoted back to the point to find Philip Broberg for a one-timer.

Brobergs slap shot went around a Pavel Buchnevich screen at the net-front.

I thought he was unreal, Blues forward Dylan Holloway said.

I thought he was humming.

That first goal is awesome, I love the cutbacks.

I thought his feet were moving all night and you could tell he was pretty juiced up to play in his hometown.

In the second period, Kyrou disrupted Auston Matthews exit from the Toronto zone, allowing Buchnevich to force a turnover and Kyrou to spin a backhand to the slot for Alexandre Texier.

It was Kyrous third two-assist game in the opening eight games of the season.

What does team-first hockey look like for a player like Kyrou? For the skill players, its easy to get away from what the team wants to do and playing a north game and really dumbing it down, Bannister said.

Heres a guy thats using the wall to chip pucks, gets over the red line if he doesnt have a play.

If he cant drive it wide, hes putting it underneath.

The goal in the second period, its a forechecking goal.

We get two guys, him and Buchy forechecking, turnover, its in the back of the net.

Theyre doing things the right way.

Its winning hockey.

Kyrou currently leads the Blues in points (9) and assists (7).

While its early, Kyrou is producing at 5 on 5 at the same rate (2.94 points per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick) that he did during the 2021-22 season.

He finished that year with 75 points in 74 games, the only time in his career hes been a point-per-game player.

That was also the last time Kyrou finished as a plus player for an entire season.

This year at 5 on 5, the Blues have outscored opponents 8-1 with Kyrou on the ice.

While his underlying possession numbers are pedestrian, Kyrou has benefitted from the Blues shooting 13.1% during his ice time and goalies have a .984 save percentage during that time, too.

Against the Maple Leafs, Kyrou (plus Buchnevich and Alexandre Texier) helped the Blues win the matchup against Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies for Toronto.

When the two lines shared the ice at 5 on 5, the Blues had a 3-1 edge in shots, a 2-0 edge in goals and owned 95.12% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.

On Thursday night, Blues captain Brayden Schenn said Kyrou was flying.

Really good, really good, Schenn said.

Hard in all three zones.

Obviously, he had a couple points there, but if you talk his game overall, 200 foot, backchecked hard, reloaded hard.

Kind of relentless mentality out there and he got rewarded for it.

Across the league, entering Fridays games, only 12 players have more assists than Kyrou does and only 15 have more points.

Only 11 have more even-strength points than Kyrou.

Hes got some nice jump, looks like hes feeling good, Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington said.

The sky is the limit for him.

Hes just got to do this thing and well be able to enjoy watching him..

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