RECAP: Panthers 5, Blues 1

ST. LOUIS – Make it eight!

Led by a hat trick from Matthew Tkachuk and 29 saves Anthony Stolarz, the Florida Panthers pushed their season-long win streak to eight games and ended their road trip on a high note with a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Improving to 26-12-2, Florida’s streak is the third-longest in the history of the franchise.

“It was all there tonight,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think any of it was easy for us. They’re one of the fastest teams in the league. We had no legs, so we had to make a whole bunch of mental adjustments. Part of it was just what the game was going to look like. I’m really happy with this win as much as any win we’ve had on this trip, for sure.”

With the home team coming out with a head full of steam, the Blues took an early lead when Brayden Schenn cashed in on a rebound to make it 1-0 at 3:24 of the first period.

After a few big saves from Stolarz helped kept the deficit at just one, the Panthers went on the offensive and struck back when Jonah Gadjovich set up Kevin Stenlund for a goal from the slot with a perfect centering feed to make it 1-1 at 15:56.

With an assist on the play, Will Lockwood earned his first point as a Panther.

“Every time they score, it’s huge for us,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said of the fourth line getting on the scoresheet. “They help in that way, but they do a lot of different things that help us win games and help us stay in the game. They’re very important.”

Armed with the extra attacker after their late power play in the first period carried over into the second, the Panthers lit the lamp thanks to their favorite set-play when Tkachuk teed up Sam Reinhart for a one-timer from the slot to make it 2-1 at 1:11.

His 29^th goal of the season, Reinhart leads the NHL with 14 power-play goals.

Making sure their newfound lead stuck, the Panthers killed off a four-minute power play for the Blues after a double-minor penalty for high-sticking at 1:57.

On that kill, Stolarz stopped all five shots he faced.

During the win streak, Florida has gone 23-for-25 (92%) on the penalty kill.

“Everyone helps out,” Stenlund said of the PK. “We just roll the lines.”

Opening up the third period, the Panthers killed off another 1:49 of a power play for St. Louis.

Gaining momentum from yet another outstanding penalty kill, the Panthers padded their lead soon after when Tkachuk finished off a give-and-go with Carter Verhaeghe by one-timing the puck through Blues goaltender Joel Hofer’s five-hole while falling down to make it 3-1 at 2:18.

On the warpath, No. 19 wasn’t done there.

Finding the back of the net for the fifth time in his last four games, Tkachuk added another goal when he set up shop in the slot and tipped in a shot from Gustav Forsling, who made a nice pump fake to clear a shooting lane, to make it 4-1 at 5:57.

Tkachuk is currently on a six-game point streak and four-game goal streak.

“It’s his hometown, and I’m really happy for him,” Barkov said of Tkachuk, who grew up in St. Louis and watched his father, Keith, play for the Blues. “He’s been really, really good lately scoring points, but he’s doing so many things for this team and for this locker room.”

Not letting the forwards have all the fun, Stolarz added another save to his stellar performance between the pipes when he came out of his crease to shut down Pavel Buchnevich on a backhand shot from the right of the net near the 10-minute mark.

Stolarz finished with 29 saves on 30 shots.

“I'm really happy for him,” Barkov said of Stolarz, who now sits at 5-3-1 with a .923 save percentage. “Great guy. Great in the practices. Whenever he's playing, he's playing unreal."

Lighting the lamp for the third time in the period, Tkachuk locked in the win and completed the fifth hat trick of his career when he buried an empty-net goal to make it 5-1 with 57 seconds left in regulation.

During their win streak, the Panthers have outscored the opposition 36-15.

“It’s hard a building to play in and a hard team to play against," Barkov said. "They played really well against us at home, beat us and pretty much got us on the right track to play harder and play the right way. It was good to get them back here in their own building.”

THEY SAID IT

“He’s been on a run for a while, probably the last three weeks you’ve seen the game change. It’s a different look and different around the net for him. He never changed his game over that course of time. He never changed what he needed to do for the team to win.” – Paul Maurice on Matthew Tkachuk heating up 

“It was a hard game. It wasn’t our best, but we fought hard and came out with a win.” – Kevin Stenlund on tonight’s win

“The guys are playing really hard in front of Bobby (Sergei Bobrovsky) and me right now and just kind of making our job easy. It’s obviously nice to be a part of something this special. We’ve believed in ourselves the entire year, and it’s nice to see our hard work paying off right now.” – Anthony Stolarz on extending the win streak

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart has matched the franchise record for longest road goal streak (6).

- Carter Verhaeghe extended his point streak to five games.

- Aleksander Barkov recorded an assist for the sixth time in his last eight games.

- Aaron Ekblad finished with a team-high +3 plus/minus rating.

- Anthony Stolarz saved 2.07 goals above expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- Kevin Stenlund has matched his career-high point total (10).

- Florida has allowed just one goal in four of the last five games.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Cats are finally coming home.

With a chance to extend their win streak to nine games in front of the South Florida faithful, the Panthers will host the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click here.