The well had run dry for Brandon Saad in recent games that the St. Louis Blues forward was moved down in the lineup by coach Drew Bannister.
And in the last game, a 3-2 loss against the Boston Bruins, Saad, who came in averaging nearly double what he played that game, didn’t even crack nine minutes (8:57) and had two shifts in the third period of a game that the Blues frittered away a 2-0 lead.
But Saad was moved back up into a top six role, playing with Brayden Schenn and Dylan Holloway and did what he does best: hang around the net and scored twice, his first goals in 10 games, of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday at KeyBank Center.
Saad, who came into the game with two goals (both scored Oct. 22 in a 3-2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets), scored two proverbial greasy goals.
His first came off a play he started, chipping a puck in behind the net, then fending off Owen Power along the right wall and beating the Sabres defenseman to the net to give the Blues a 1-0 lead at 3:13 of the first period.
Saad then benefitted from chaos in front after Dylan Holloway’s shot caromed off Brayden Schenn into the slot area, and by being around the net, the puck found Saad’s stick at 17:15 of the second period to give the Blues a 3-2 lead:
Saad scored two 5-on-5 goals, something missing from the Blues of late and his line was the best in the game for the Blues.
Saad finished a plus-2 with seven shot attempts (four on goal) in 17:31 ice time.
An honorable mention who deserves accolades tonight is defenseman Ryan Suter, who at nearly 40 years old, played a whopping 33:06 tonight, which marks the first time since March 5, 2019 that the defenseman logged 30-plus minutes in a regular-season game with the Minnesota Wild against the Nashville Predators. And it’s the most he’s played in a regular-season game since logging 33:10 with the Wild against the Ottawa Senators on March 15, 2016.
