Blues top Panthers in OT, split home and home

ST. LOUIS --Pavel Buchnevich scored 53 seconds into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Buchnevich took the puck from Colton Parayko near center ice and skated down along the left boards past Florida forward Sam Bennett before beating Spencer Knight on a wraparound.
"I just see Bennett," Buchnevich said. "I know he's a forward and I can beat him. I beat him wide and I feel I can take a shot. Goalie goes down and I can go around the net."
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist for the Blues (13-8-4), who split the home and home after losing 4-3 in a shootout in Florida on Saturday.
Ville Husso made 34 saves on 37 shots before leaving late in the third period with a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Charlie Lindgren, who made three saves to earn the win in his first game with St. Louis, which was already playing one skater short due to NHL salary cap constraints.
"It's pretty tough luck right now, but at the end of the day, it is what it is and there's no excuses," Blues forward Brandon Saad said. "We're playing some good hockey teams and competing and battling, staying alive, and had a good win tonight. I think the message is whoever's healthy, whoever's playing, keep competing and we're going to have success."

Aleksander Barkov, Brandon Montour and Jonathan Huberdeau scored, and Knight made 26 saves for the Panthers (17-4-4), who had won three in a row.
"I feel like we had some chances," Montour said. "Obviously, [Husso] played a good game. I feel like we had a couple right in front of the net where we might score usually, but it is what it is. Something happens like that, you can't score every time. The guys battled hard, and we got one point out of that."
Saad gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 6:48 of the third period, deflecting a one-timer from Ivan Barbashev at the top of the crease four seconds after a power play expired.
"I was kind of just in the area, have your stick in the right place," Saad said. "It just deflected off me and went in. Obviously, it was great movement there on the power play finishing it off. Sometimes you've got to be lucky out there."

Huberdeau tied it 3-3 at 14:28 when he tapped in a backdoor pass from Radko Gudas. Husso left the game following the goal.
Barkov gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 6:49 of the first period with another tap-in, this time after receiving a backdoor pass through the seam from Maxim Mamin, who had two assists.
Florida outshot the Blues 20-5 in the first.
"I thought we really played our game in the first," Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. "We dictated pace and did everything we wanted for the period, and in the second, I thought we got a little cute and a little sloppy and started taking penalties. They have a great power play, which put us on our heels there a little bit."

Tarasenko scored his first goal in 11 games to tie it 1-1 at 4:20 of the second period, but Montour restored Florida's lead to 2-1 at 5:12 on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
"I think 'Vladi,' it was a real important goal for him," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I thought he really played well in the second and third."
Brayden Schenn tied it 2-2 at 13:34 when he tapped in a pass from Tarasenko near the left post on the power play.
NOTES: Barkov returned after missing eight games with a knee injury but reinjured himself in the third period and did not return. Brunette, who said Barkov tweaked something unrelated to his knee and will be reevaluated Wednesday, doesn't believe it will be a long-term injury. ... St. Louis defenseman Jake Walman sustained an upper-body injury on the same play that Husso was injured. Berube didn't give an update on either player. ... The Blues were missing forwards David Perron, James Neal, and Klim Kostin, who are each out because of an upper-body injury, and forward Robert Thomas, who is out with a lower-body injury. Goalie Jordan Binnington, defenseman Justin Faulk and forward Tyler Bozak are in COVID-19 protocol.