Popular former Rangers forward nets hat trick for Blues after goal-scoring woes in playoffs
In the same week that Chris Drury received a contract extension from the New York Rangers to remain general manager, Pavel Buchnevich put forth a major reminder of, perhaps, Drury’s biggest mistake on the job.
Buchnevich recorded a hat trick for the St. Louis Blues in their 7-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series Thursday night at Enterprise Center. His massive performance comes nearly four years after Drury traded the popular forward to the Blues on July 23, 2021.
Faced with a tight salary cap and Buchnevich an RFA with arbitration rights, Drury — then just two months on the job after replacing the fired leadership tandem of Jeff Gorton and John Davidson — shipped Buchnevich to the Blues for forward Sammy Blais and a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Buchnevich had already scored 20 goals twice for the Rangers at that point, and was a nice fit on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Buchnevich has scored 30, 26, 27 and 20 goals for the Blues since the trade, and established NHL career highs with 30 goals, 46 assists and 76 points in 2021-22.
Blais sustained a brutal knee injury and was eventually traded back to the Blues. The Rangers spent much of the past four seasons trying to find a suitable replacement on right wing for Zibanejad and Kreider.
So, yeah, with Rangers fans already angry that Drury received a contract extension after overseeing one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history in 2024-25, it was twisting the knife a bit more to see Buchnevich explode in the postseason for the Blues on Thursday.
Popular ex-Rangers star Pavel Buchnevich explodes for playoff hat trick
With his team trailing 2-0 in the best-of-7 series but back on home ice, Buchnevich wasted little time in showing the Jets that this was not going to be their night. The 30-year-old scored 48 seconds into the game and made it 2-0 less than three minutes later. He capped his hat trick early in the third period to make it 4-1.
Buchnevich has had plenty of success in the NHL, though not so much in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Before his breakthrough Thursday, Buchnevich had just one goal in 22 career postseason games with the Rangers and Blues.
It should be noted he had 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in 12 games during the 2022 playoffs and two assists in the first two games against the Jets in this series, so it’s not like he was completely unproductive. He just couldn’t find the back of the net. Until Game 3 against the Jets.
“I thought ‘Buchy’ has been good in the first two games, especially defensively, but offensively i thought there was more in his game and I thought he brought that tonight,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery stated.
Each of his three goals was scored from within a few feet of the net. The first was on a rebound, when he kicked the puck toward the cage and then deftly got a piece of it in midair before it crossed the goal line. Had he not touched the puck with his stick, the goal likely would’ve been waved off.
“The crowd got nuts and the emotions get even more and we keep going,” Buchnevich explained postgame.
Buchnevich then deflected a Robert Thomas shot past reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck at 3:11 for a power-play goal. He capped off his big night by capitalizing on a Hellebuyck turnover behind the net caused by back pressure from Thomas, wrapping a shot into the vacated net at 5:24 of the third period.
“‘Buchy’ stepped up right away, came out flying, and made some great plays and got us off to a great start,” Thomas explained. “So, he deserves a lot of credit.”
Three goals, one assist, five shots on goal, six hits. Just a little reminder of what the Rangers traded away.
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