ST. LOUIS — Before the St. Louis Blues’ game against the New York Rangers on Sunday, coach Jim Montgomery detailed a conversation he had recently with Jordan Kyrou.
“The one thing I want him to get back to, that I think is starting to come, is being more aggressive with his feet, attacking defensemen’s feet, making them uncomfortable because of his speed and skill, and hounding pucks in that offensive zone.”
In the second period of the Blues’ 3-2 win over the Rangers, there couldn’t have been a more perfect example of what Montgomery wanted from Kyrou, and he delivered.
When teammate Alexey Toropchenko banked a pass off the glass out of the Blues’ defensive zone, Kyrou was a few steps behind New York’s Ryan Lindgren. But in one fell swoop, he used those wheels to not only catch Lindgren but lift the defenseman’s stick. He still didn’t have control of the puck, so with his left skate he kicked it up to his blade and proceed to beat Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick glove-side with a shot to the top-right corner of the net.
Now that’s Montgomery was talking about.
“Yeah, when he gets on top of people with his feet, people get nervous because they know if they turn it over it’s going to be in the back of the net,” Montgomery said.
The goal that gave the Blues a 2-0 lead was Kyrou’s team-best 13th of the season.
“I’m just trying to hit his stick a little bit, whatever I can to make (Lindgren) do what he did there,” Kyrou said. “It’s one-on-one there and he’s skating back for the puck. I don’t know if he sees me coming at him with my speed. I just tried to throw him off balance a little bit.”
This is what you call a goal scorer’s goal. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/e6dwhaDaRd
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 16, 2024
Linemate Robert Thomas has seen similar sequences play out with Kyrou’s wheels.
“Yeah, he has the ability to beat a defender,” Thomas said. “He has the ability to strip them and go down and score in a matter of seconds. It’s a pretty good talent of his and when he uses it, it’s really fun to watch. He brings a lot of energy to our team.”
Kyrou has goals in four straight games and six in his last seven.
“I’ve just got to try to keep that same mindset of attacking and shooting the puck and just can’t lose that,” he said. “Confidence is always good when you’re scoring goals. It’s always there.”
In the past, including this season, Kyrou has been guilty of being too pass-happy, and even Blues general manager Doug Armstrong pointed out after replacing former coach Drew Bannister with Montgomery that the offense was trying to “pass the puck into the net.”
But not lately, and not Kyrou.
“He’s getting the puck in a scoring area, he’s looking to shoot, he’s not looking to pass,” Thomas said. “When he’s doing that, it’s tough. The goalies don’t have time to get ready for his shot and he’s putting it in the right spots.”
And Kyrou has been hitting his target in the latest stretch of games.
In his previous six seasons with the NHL, he’s had a career shooting percentage of 13.2 percent in 334 games. Before the Blues’ game against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 3, he had seven goals on 71 shots (9.9 percent this season). But in the last seven games, he has six goals on 21 shots (28.6 percent).
Asked about the increased accuracy lately, Kyrou replied: “I don’t know. It just happens, I guess. Just got to try to keep shooting.”
If at first you don’t succeed… pic.twitter.com/BwWFjkKvl9
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 15, 2024
Kyrou had scoring droughts of six and 10 games earlier this season, but his recent spree has him on pace for 33 goals this season. That would rank second behind his career-high 37 in 2022-23.
“I think he’s just staying with it,” Montgomery said. “I don’t see highs and lows in his body language. He’s just onto the next shift and I think he’s developing a real maturity … mentally and to his physical game.”
Kyrou said Sunday that he’s grown over the past couple of seasons, which has been a challenge considering the Blues have had three coaches in the past year.
“I’ve worked on a lot ever since I got here,” he said. “I think every year I’ve slowly gotten better and better. From last year to this year, I feel like I’ve improved a lot this year with my overall game.
“Obviously you go through different coaches and you learn different things from each of them. You just try to take from each one what you can and add them to your game.”
Kyrou isn’t the only player producing offense under Montgomery. In 22 games under Bannister, the team was averaging 2.36 goals per game. In 10 games under Montgomery, they’re up to 3.1 per game.
Thomas had a goal and assist Sunday to extend his personal assist streak to seven games (nine assists). Buchnevich scored his fourth goal in seven games against his former team, and that extended his overall point streak to nine games (three goals, six assists).
“(Montgomery) changed a couple different changes that allowed us to be more creative with the puck,” Thomas said. “Obviously when he came in, we started scoring and that builds some confidence for the team. We’re slowly getting better every game. It’s not going to happen every night, but you can feel a difference every game.”
(Photo: Jeff Curry / Imagn Images)
