RECAP: Blues 6, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – On the second half of a back-to-back and near the end of a grinding stretch of games, the Florida Panthers saw their four-game winning streak snapped with a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blue at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

With the loss, Florida now sits at 19-14-2.

“We went flat out as hard as we could as long as we could,” said head coach Paul Maurice, referencing the team’s jam-packed schedule. “The first two power plays were good, but other than that there wasn’t part of our game we could excel at. Won’t watch it again.”

Coming up with a big save less than three minutes into the first period, Daniil Tarasov denied Blues forward Robby Fabbri on a point-blank shot from the slot.

Opening the scoring for St. Louis, Jake Neighbours went to the top of the crease and tipped in a point shot from Cam Fowler to make it 1-0 at 9:49 of the first period.

Doubling the lead for the Blues in the second period, Jonatan Berggren buried a blistering one-timer from the left circle on the power play to make it 2-0 at 1:55.

Making an incredible effort, Tarasov slide from right to left in the blink of an eye to grab the shot, but officials deemed the puck crossed the goal line in his glove.

Not long after that, Tarasov denied Berggren on a breakaway.

Cutting the deficit in half for the Panthers, Jesper Boqvist fired a shot on net from the right circle that caught a piece of A.J. Greer and sailed past Blues goaltender Joel Hofer to make it 2-1 at 7:35.

St. Louis challenged for goaltender interference, but the score was upheld.

“He’s a big man that can move the puck well, and he can shoot the puck a little bit,” Maurice said of Greer, who’s already set a new career high with seven goals this season. “We think if he can continue to go, and I don’t think we’re going to get that many guys back [from injury] any time soon, he’s going to get an opportunity to show what he can do in a non-fourth line role.”

After coming up empty on the power play they earned from that failed challenge by the Blues, the Panthers cashed in on their next opportunity with the man advantage.

Executing their signature tic-tac-toe play to perfection, Sam Reinhart teed up a pass from Brad Marchand and beat Hofer with a one-timer from the slot to make it 2-2 at 12:45.

Putting the Blues back on top with less than a second left in the second period, Justin Faulk fired a shot from below the blue line that snuck past Tarasov to make it 3-2 at 19:59.

“It’s unlucky,” defenseman Niko Mikkola said of the goal.

In the third period, the Blues gave themselves a two-goal cushion thanks to a strong forecheck that ended with Neighbours potting his second goal to make it 4-2 at 12:02.

Less than a minute later, a one-timer from Robert Thomas made it 5-2 at 12:53.

With the Panthers on the power play and pulling Tarasov to gain a 6-on-4 advantage, the Blues extended their lead to 6-2 when Thomas fired the puck into the empty net for a shorthanded goal at 16:28.

When one winning streak ends, it's a chance for a new one to begin.

“There’s not much to say,” Reinhart said of the loss. “You’re going to go through it at some points of the year. It’s all about recovery now and regrouping. We’ve got another big one before the Christmas break.”

THEY SAID IT

“We’ve got a lot of miles on our top two lines and our top-four D. You get a day and a half off at home to recover. We expect to be real good in Carolina. We’ve been really good. I think our last tough one was in Colorado.” – Paul Maurice

“Recover and rest is important, especially this time of the year.” – Sam Reinhart

“I think they were hard on us and didn’t give us a lot of space. Maybe it wasn’t our best game. I think we started to stretch our game a little bit, and that’s not us.” – Niko Mikkola

CATS STATS

- Sam Bennett won a team-high 12 faceoffs.

- A.J. Greer and Luke Kunin each logged four hits.

- Seth Jones led Florida in time on ice (24:58) and shots (8).

- Sam Reinhart has scored four goals over his last four games.

WHAT’S NEXT?

One more before the holiday.

The Panthers will pack their bags and head to Raleigh for a rematch with the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

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