3 players who must step up for the St. Louis Blues last stand to make the NHL Playoffs

Pavel Buchnevich has got to find the back of the net more often

Pavel Buchnevich is still second on the Blues in points, but his goal-scoring has been nonexistent lately. Since March 2nd, Buchnevich has just two goals despite logging nine assists and 11 total points in that span. 

Other Blues players have stepped up and picked up the slack, but imagine how much more of a scoring threat this team would be if Buchnevich was still that player who put up 24 goals in his first 57 contests. Adjust that number across 82 games, and Buchnevich was on pace to score between 34 and 35 goals. 

Those two goals he scored between March 2nd and April 4th both came in the Blues win over the Calgary Flames. And to Buchnevich’s defense, he does have 10 points in the last nine games since he’s been logging quite a few helpers, so at the absolute least, he’s still finding ways to get others involved. 

Buchnevich has no choice, however, but to keep playing at more than a point-per-game pace from now until Game No. 82. If he can start finding the back of the net again and keep putting linemates in position to score, the Blues will be much better off over the next two weeks.