Thomas, Kyrou, Kapanen benched in third period of 6-1 loss against Red Wings

Drew Bannister has been down this road before, and it's one the St. Louis Blues interim coach would rather not drive down.

But he was down that pathway on Saturday when Bannister benched his two highest-paid players, forwards Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, for all but one shift in the third period, and kept forward Kasperi Kapanen on the bench for the entire third period of a 6-1 loss against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

Thomas and Kyrou each was a minus-2 in the game and each logged a season-low in ice time (Thomas, 12:03; Kyrou, 10:34). Each played a 39-second shift from 7:15 to 7:54 and never hit the ice again.

Thomas took a slashing penalty that led to a Red Wings 5-on-3 for 1:13 that the Blues killed; he had no shot attempts in the game.

Thomas came into the game with 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) the past 13 games.

Kyrou had just one shot attempt. 

Also, Kasperi Kapanen logged a season-low 8:48 and didn't see the ice in the third period with just one shot on goal; he has just three assists in the past 14 games but hasn't scored in any of those games. Kapanen's last goal came Dec. 29 at Pittsburgh. 

Check out Bannister's comments on the situation below: