Snuggerud breaks tie with 9 seconds left, Blues defeat Panthers to end 5-game skid

ST. LOUIS -- Jimmy Snuggerud scored a power-play goal with 9 seconds remaining to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Pavel Buchnevich sent a cross-ice pass to Snuggerud in the left face-off circle, where he buried a one-timer after Florida had killed 40 seconds of a 4-on-3.

“I think we were wearing them down in the zone for a bit, so some tired guys on the ice," Snuggerud said. "‘Rouzy’ [Jordan Kyrou] and ‘Buchy’ made some great passes throughout the whole power play, but the last seam play there, I thought, 'Just get it on the left side of the net,’ and fortunately enough it went in. It was a great play.”

St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said, “It’s awesome for him to get rewarded because he’s been shooting the puck a lot. Right before that, Jordan Kyrou hit their defenseman in the shin pad, a very similar one-timer. It’s good to see guys looking to shoot, looking to pound pucks.”

Kyrou scored and had two assists, and Buchnevich and Justin Faulk each had two assists for the Blues (20-25-9), who ended a five-game losing streak (0-4-1). Joel Hofer made 17 saves.

“It’s great to be on this side of it,” Faulk said. “Tonight was a tough one. It was challenging, that’s for sure, down one, even, down one, and then giving up 4-2 and let them tie it up. So it was a push. We knew going into the third it wasn’t going to be any different; it was going to be a tough third period against these guys. They play a tough game. To get rewarded at the end is great, because we obviously had it go the other way here a couple times recently, but I think more importantly to get rewarded, we think we’re putting in a lot of work. We think guys are working hard.”

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and had an assist, and Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (28-22-3), who had won three straight. Daniil Tarasov made 26 saves.

“It’s heartbreaking because you fight and you get back into it and you get so close to killing it off,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “Great blocks and great battles. That’s a tough one.”

Reinhart said, “It’s disappointing. It’s a tough one to swallow.”

A.J. Greer put the Panthers up 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period. Luke Kunin fed a pass in front from behind the net, and Greer lifted his own rebound over Hofer's glove under the bar.

Jake Neighbours tied it 1-1 at 4:46 when he took a pass from Buchnevich in stride into the offensive zone and buried a wrist shot glove side on Tarasov.

Kyrou put St. Louis up 2-1 at 7:51. Philip Broberg intercepted a breakout pass from Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe in the neutral zone, skated down the left side and passed to Kyrou, who put a wrist shot in off the right post from the edge of the left circle.

Reinhart evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at 9:22, chipping a rebound over Hofer's glove from the slot.

Jonatan Berggren made it 3-2 for the Blues while the teams skated 4-on-4 when he finished a one-handed pass from Faulk with a snap shot from the right circle at 14:27.

“Our first period, we just did some things we don’t do and gave them some really good chances,” Maurice said. “After that, I like a lot of what we did. I liked our game.”

Oskar Sundqvist increased the lead to 4-2 just 41 seconds into the second period. He rushed up the ice and put a wrist shot on net that squeaked through Tarasov and bounced into the net. It was Sundqvist's first game since Jan. 18, missing the previous four games with a cut on his ankle.

Tkachuk cut the deficit to 4-3 at 16:52, skating in from the right circle and lifting a backhand shot over Hofer's left pad that bounced off the back bar.

It was the first goal of the season for Tkachuk, who was playing in just his sixth game after missing the first 47 following surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia on Aug. 22.

Tkachuk then scored his second of the period while on the power play to tie it 4-4 at 18:39, going to the front of the net and beating Hofer with a wrist shot past the blocker.

St. Louis killed off a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Nick Bjugstad at 11:01 of the third period without allowing a shot on goal.

“I feel like we were good from start to finish on that one,” Sundqvist said. “I don’t think we gave them a lot. After we kill it off, you hear the crowd and it definitely gives you an extra boost. It was a good momentum swing for us.”

NOTES: Snuggerud's goal was the latest go-ahead goal for the Blues since Doug Weight on March 27, 2003 (59:58). … Snuggerud has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game streak. … Faulk has five assists in his past five games. ... Neighbours (lower-body injury), Kyrou (upper-body injury) and Sundqvist were all game-time decisions. … Tkachuk's assist on Reinhart's power-play goal was his 400th in the NHL. He required the second-fewest games (648) by an active U.S.-born player to reach the mark, behind Patrick Kane (636 games). … Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues played his 600th NHL game. ... Florida forward Brad Marchand left the game after the second period with an undisclosed injury. Maurice had no update and said he was getting looked at after the game and again on Friday.