(10-6-23) Blues Notebook

"That was his best game he's played in camp," Berube said. "He showed that intensity that we need from him and he did that in the game. I thought he was an effective player."

It's been an inconsistent camp thus far for the 23-year-old, who has been battling with veterans Nathan Walker and Mackenzie MacEachern for that role.

"A little bit. A little bit of maybe kind of in between of what he needs to do to be an effective player in the NHL and what we need from him," Berube said of Alexandrov. "Sometimes you've got to change your ways a little bit.

"In the American [Hockey] League, yeah he put up numbers and scored some goals and things like that. I'm not saying he can't do that here, but in his position here, this is what he needs to do to play, to be effective."

Alexandrov sounds like a mirror image of what the Blues went through when they drafted Sammy Blais in the sixth round in the 2014 NHL Draft, a player who was known more as an offensive player coming out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that had to adapt more so to a bottom six role.

"Similar I guess," Berube said. "I think 'Niki's a smart player, he's positionally sound, he knows the systems and things like that, but he just needs to get into the fight a little bit more, and he did that last night.

"Being physical on pucks separating people from pucks and winning that battle and he's got to constantly remind himself to move his feet right away."

* Scandella, Tucker progressing -- The Blues appear as if they will begin the season, at the start anyway, with a third defensive pairing of Marco Scandella and Tyler Tucker.

Scandella played 14:56 and had three of the Blues' 21 blocked shots, while Tucker played 15:54 with two hits and two blocked shots.

"I think that they've been pretty good," Berube said. "I think that their puck play can be better, but overall they're playing physical, they're aggressive, they're a doing a good job there. They've done a pretty good job, but I think there's improvement."

What remains is which lefty will play his off side. Right now, it appears as if Tucker will.

"I thought 'Tucks' did a good job last night on the right," Berube said. "For a young kid, he looked pretty good to me. Right now, kind of that's where I have it as of right now. Again, it's subject to see, we'll see."

* Toropchenko returns to ice -- Speaking of Toropchenko, the 24-year-old was back on the practice ice Friday after being held out of Thursday's game when he was originally supposed to be in the lineup.

Toropchenko skated Thursday morning but left the ice early but was back on the fourth line at left wing with Oskar Sundqvist at center and Jake Neighbours on the right.

"He finished practice, which was a good sign," Berube said. "I'm happy with that."

However, it is unlikely Toropchenko gets into the final preseason game against the Blackhawks.

"I would (like to play him), but I probably wouldn't because just (better) to hold him off," Berube said. "We've got a lot of time before we play here again. There's no sense trying, maybe aggravating it. The game's different than practice."