SnapJolt

Blues coach Craig Berube and a player you wouldnt expect unleashes on team

ST. LOUIS — If you call Enterprise Center on Friday looking to buy an Alexey Toropchenko No. 13 Blues jersey, they might be on backorder.

It is extremely rare in the NHL for young players to speak their minds, especially a 23-year-old fourth-round draft pick with just 73 games in the league before Thursday’s game against Vancouver.

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The Russian speaks impressively good English, and he did not mince words after the Blues coughed up a 2-0 lead in the final 11 minutes of regulation and fell 3-2 in overtime. The Canucks got a short-handed goal, pulled their goalie and tied the score with 29 seconds left, then won on Elias Pettersson’s OT shot.

But it wasn’t the fact the Blues, who have already begun their fire sale, lost the game. It was the lackadaisical effort by the team’s top players, which everyone in the crowd of 18,096 could see well before the final-period collapse.

“I’m trying to do my best, and I hope everyone is on the same page,” Toropchenko said. “But it’s not like that, unfortunately.”

He was just getting started.

“Even if we’re not in the playoff spot, I will do everything because it’s a hockey game,” Toropchenko said. “You can’t (disappear), especially when you’re playing in the NHL. You’re not playing somewhere else, on the beer league or something like that. You need to show something. You need to show heart and character and be strong everywhere. Just play from your heart. Not good.”

You’ll want to hear what Craig Berube, Alexey Toropchenko and Tyler Tucker had to say after tonight’s game. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/RQy3LP1ge6

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 24, 2023

Those in the group of media members surrounding Toropchenko’s locker started to scoot closer, making sure they were hearing this correctly. You wondered whether he’d stop himself at some point, but he didn’t.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he continued. “Especially for fans, you cannot play like that. You need to play for fans, for yourself especially, and for everybody from the team. The team is just one family. It’s not only about one guy. You need to be part of it and show some respect to each other.

“You can count on your fingers how many guys just want to play. Like I said, we need to play for everybody, and that’s not good enough how we played for (goalie Jordan Binnington), especially.”

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Amen, Blues coach Craig Berube said minutes later when told the theme of Toropchenko’s comments.

“A lot of our best players (are) not doing the job,” Berube said.

Why?

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them,” he said. “I guess they don’t care about the team. I don’t know. I’m not sure why.”

Every game, the media puts in a request to the team’s public relations department to interview three players afterward, and with the Blues leading 2-0 in the third period, that request Thursday included Toropchenko,  Binnington and Tyler Tucker. So key players such as Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou were not available after the game.

The trio of Schenn, Thomas and Kyrou has a combined one point in the past four games, and that was an assist by Kyrou in last week’s 4-1 loss to Colorado. In their four-game losing streak, the Blues have been outscored 18-6, and here’s the breakdown of five-on-five goals for/against that those three have been on the ice for: Schenn (2-4), Thomas (0-6) and Kyrou (1-6).

“Not good enough,” Berube said. “Not even close.”

What’s not there?

“A lot,” he replied.

Berube counted Binnington, Toropchenko, Tucker and Pavel Buchnevich among the few who played well Thursday. This week, he also mentioned Nathan Walker and Tyler Pitlick as solid contributors, and Walker did show emotion, getting in a fight Thursday.

Toropchenko and Tucker had the Blues’ lone goals, with Toropchenko scoring his fifth of the season in a short-handed situation late in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Toropchenko didn’t care to talk about that goal, and basically anything you asked, he circled back to the club’s poor performance.

“It looks like this game was worse of all my life how the team played today,” he said.

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In the second period, Tucker scored his first goal in the NHL for a 2-0 lead.

Tucker also gave two snots about his goal.

“Two points would be even better,” he said.

Late in the second period, with the Blues holding their 2-0 lead and the Canucks on the power play, Toropchenko came up with a big block. He had four in the game, which was tied for the most on the team Thursday.

“I’m trying to show every game that I want to play,” Toropchenko said. “I want to fight — especially, like, for points. I don’t want to be an outside hockey team. We’re playing in the best league in the world, and you cannot play like that. It’s terrible.”

Early in the third period, with the Blues still clinging to their 2-0 lead, the Canucks’ Vasily Podkolzin pushed Tucker into Binnington, knocking both Blues players to the ice. Tucker rose to his feet and, in a response unlike most players this season, addressed Podkolzin.

“I just wasn’t happy with the play,” Tucker said.

Conversely, Berube was happy with the play of Toropchenko and Tucker.

“Awesome,” Berube said. “Torpo had an outstanding game. Tucker had an outstanding game. Binner. There’s a handful of guys really competing and doing the job. But again, our best players aren’t even close.

“They should be very, very happy that we’ve got (Toropchenko) on our team and that he’s laying on the line. They should be inspired by it, and they should go out and play inspired. Our best players don’t play with any passion, no emotion and no inspiration at all. They don’t play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit and being inspired. They’re getting paid lots of money, and they’re not doing the job. End of story.”

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End of story, but there are still 24 games left. It’s going to be a long 24 games.

“For sure,” Berube acknowledged.

So what can he do with those top players who aren’t playing with any passion? Bench them? Scratch them?

“Well, we don’t have a lot of extra players,” Berube said. “We don’t have a lot of anything right now. So, just trying to keep getting through to them somehow.”

Perhaps Toropchenko’s message will get through to them. He, by the way, still wasn’t done.

“If you will talk, talking is good, but you need to show it on the ice that you want (it),” Toropchenko said. “You can talk an hour, you can talk for like two hours, but if you don’t show it on the ice, why are you talking?”

Tucker, who has played with Toropchenko in AHL Springfield and in St. Louis, wasn’t surprised to hear what he said.

“I mean, guys are frustrated. Obviously, not the results that we want,” Tucker said. “I think a little bit of frustration is good right now. We’ve got to be better as a team, as a group. I think it’s good.”

(Photo of Alexey Toropchenko and Anthony Beauvillier: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)

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Christie Applegate

Update: 2024-05-02