Thomas, Kyrou, Kapanen moving on looking forward following benching

Each player was back on his respective line Monday, with Thomas centering the top line with Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich, and Kapanen was on right wing with Brandon Saad and Kevin Hayes.

Thomas and Kapanen didn't speak to reporters after practice Monday, but Kyrou addressed the benching and said there's an understanding between the players and interim coach Drew Bannister, who benched Buchnevich in a loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier in the season and made defenseman Marco Scandella a healthy scratch.

"It was just a bad game overall by everyone," Kyrou said. "We just need to be better as a group. It's kind of like a message to everyone. It's playoff time, we've all got to be ready to play.

"I'm definitely more motivated for sure. It's the playoff hunt right now, so everyone's got to be on top of their games."

All three skaters finished the game with a season-low for minutes played, with Thomas playing 12:03, Kyrou 10:34 and Kapanen 8:48. The trio was a combined minus-5.

"I talked to each individual player, as I would," Bannister said. "I'm not going to leave that alone. I think it's on me to explain it in person, face to face with them and what the expectation was and what my thought process was. And just so we're clear, those three players weren't the only players that didn't show up in that game. You don't find yourself 4-0 behind or 6-1 after the game and think that 17 other players were playing to their expectation. We need, whether it's the top players or the players supporting them, to meet their expectations, and there's going to be nights where they're not at their best. That's just over an 82-game season. You're not always going to get a perfect game out of them. But as long as the effort's there and the commitment to play a team game and what we're trying to do here, then there won't be an issue. But we felt at that time and as a staff and myself that there was a message that had to be sent. So we set the bar, and moving forward, it's going to be the same. The expectations are if you're not going to meet the expectations, you're probably going to play less."

The Blues, who are currently on the outside looking in as far as the Western Conference wild card four points behind the Nashville Predators, were behind 3-0 less than six minutes into the game Saturday, including 33 seconds into it on Saturday with both Thomas and Kyrou on the ice when Patrick Kane scored.

Bannister spoke to each individual and allowed the air to come out on both ends of what the expectations are and now the expectation is for each player to respond accordingly. He feels they received the message accordingly.

"Very good. They're professionals," Bannister said. "Let's be honest, I've been there before, I didn't like it. I don't like being that person on the bench that doesn't get to be out there and compete with your teammates. They're not happy with the situation, but they understand it, and they understand that they need to be better for our team.

"They're all character players. Not one of them weren't disappointed in themselves. I guess I leave it that. They expect more from themselves and I have no question that they're going to do everything in their power to make sure that we're ready to start and they're going to be contributors in a positive way for our team."

Thomas and Kyrou are each the highest paid players on the team making an average annual value of $8.125 million and it goes to show the coaches aren't going to give free passes out with the team in dire straits for points.

"Just like you said, it's a message to everyone," Kyrou said. "Going forward here, we're in that playoff push, we're in that grinder now. We've all got to be dialed in and ready to go each game. Every game's huge for us right now."