Blues’ injury problems continue; team recalls Kyrou, Poganski

Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was an embarrassing showing for the Blues on home ice, but it brought an extra bonus of awful with it. For what seemed like the hundreth time this season, a forward went down with injury. Zach Sanford left with an upper body injury in the second period and did not return. He won’t be returning on Tuesday night in Buffalo, either.

To fill in for Sanford, the Blues re-recalled Dustin Poganski from the San Antonio Rampage. They also recalled forward Jordan Kyrou, who has returned to form after injury. In sixteen games played with the Blues’ AHL affiliate, Kyrou has nine goals and six assists. This won’t be his first cup of coffee with the NHL club; he played in 16 games last season with the Blues and netted a goal and two assists.

With so many offensive players dropping - Tarasenko, Blais, and Sundqvist, especially - the Blues are in need of forwards who can jump start something, anything. Steen and Sundqvist are skating with the team again but neither will be back Tuesday, and neither will probably be back by Thursday’s home game against the Vegas Golden Knights. The injuries are finally catching up with the Blues, who have seen their Central Division lead dwindle to just two points despite a decent 6-3-1 record in their last ten games.

It’s difficult to expect the Blues to continue to produce at the level that they are when five of their 12 regular forwards are out. What they’ve accomplished so far this season is impressive, but they’re going to need some fresh blood to continue to keep playing at this high of level.

One can only hope that Kyrou isn’t next on the injury list.