Blues forward Jordan Kyrou a healthy scratch against Sabres for the 1st time in his career

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — St. Louis forward Jordan Kyrou was a healthy scratch for Thursday night’s 3-0 victory at Buffalo as Blues coach Jim Montgomery tried to spark improvement from his struggling team.

The Blues were 1-6-2 in their past nine games and entered Thursday in 15th place in the Western Conference. St. Louis followed a 3-2 win at home against Edmonton with a 6-1 road loss at Washington on Wednesday night.

“There were several people we weren’t happy with the effort last night,” Montgomery said following Thursday’s game. “It didn’t matter the role, there was a lot of guys that didn’t play up to their role or responsibilities on the team. And the players we ended up going with we thought gave us the best opportunity to win tonight.”

Mathieu Joseph replaced Oskar Sundqvist in the lineup and had a short-handed goal and two assists against Buffalo. Backup goaltender Joel Hofer made 28 saves in the shutout.

Montgomery held a mandatory morning skate before playing in the second game of a back-to-back in Buffalo.

“If you have competitive fire in your belly, struggles like this provide opportunities to grow stronger together when you face these again,” Montgomery said after the practice.

Kyrou is tied for second on the Blues with eight points in 14 games and has led the team in goals in each of the past three seasons. Kyrou has not recorded a point in his past five games. This is the first time in five seasons that the 27-year-old winger has been a healthy scratch. He has 154 goals and 340 points in 430 NHL games.

Alexandre Texier replaced Kyrou at right wing on the Blues’ top line.

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