For the first time this season, the St. Louis Blues and Florida Panthers faced each other as part of a two-game season series. The Blues defeated the Panthers 6-2. The Panthers looked to extend their win streak to five games as the Blues tried to aim for a victory after a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers in their last game. Let’s get into the recap of this game.
First Period
The game began with half the period staying quiet until almost 10 minutes in when the Blues answered first. Blues’ forward Otto Stenberg (secondary assist) played the puck after Brayden Schenn won the faceoff and passed the puck to Cam Fowler (primary assist), who shot it from the blue line, causing Blues’ Jake Neighbours to tip the puck in the net for the 1-0 lead.
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After the goal, the score stayed the same, and the final shots for the period were 7-7.
Second Period
The second period was more eventful, as Blues forward Jonatan Berggren scored on a rebound created by Pavel Buchnevich on the power play with 1:55 minutes into the period, which made the game 2-0 Blues. Robert Thomas was credited with the secondary assist on the play.
Then, deep into the second at a time stamp of 7:35, Panthers forward A.J. Greer deflected the puck into the net on a tight assisted shot by Jesper Boqvist, which defenseman Seth Jones also assisted to make it 2-1.
The Panthers didn’t stop there as they made it 2-2 thanks to a Sam Reinhart power play one-time goal, assisted by Brad Marchand (primary assist) and Sam Bennett (secondary assist).
The Blues took the lead in a desperation slap shot by Justin Faulk with one second left in the period to make it 3-2. Berggren was the only player who assisted on the play. Final shots for the second period were 14-8 for the Panthers.
Third Period
The final period opened scoreless within the first 10 minutes. It wasn’t until 12:02 into the third that Neighbours got a pass from Stenberg and ripped a shot past Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov to make it 4-2. Schenn was given the secondary assist.
Just 53 seconds later, Thomas scored another goal for the Blues, assisted by Buchnevich (primary assist) and Berggren (secondary assist), and the Blues’ lead increased to 5-2.
Within the final two minutes, the Panthers tried to bring on the extra man with the empty net while on the power play, but Thomas finished the scoring with a shorthanded goal to make the final score 6-2. Final shots for the game were 31-29 Blues.
Before the short Christmas break, the Blues will work for another win as they face the Nashville Predators on Monday (Dec. 22). The Panthers will look to get back in winning fashion against the Carolina Panthers on Tuesday (Dec. 23). The two teams will face each other for the second game of the season series on Jan. 29.
