Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal with 0.7 seconds left in the second period and the St. Louis Blues beat the Florida Panthers 6-2 Saturday night in Sunrise, Florida.
Jake Neighbors and Robert Thomas scored twice each for the Blues, and Jonatan Berggren added a goal and two assists.
Neighbors leads the Blues with 10 goals this season.
Also for the Blues, Cam Fowler registered his 400th career assist on the Blues’ first goal on Saturday.
The game was a battle between backup goaltenders. Joel Hofer made 27 saves to earn the victory.
Florida’s Daniil Tarasov made 24 saves and the Panthers got a goal each from AJ Greer and Sam Reinhart.
Despite the loss – which ended Florida’s four-game winning streak – the Panthers are 7-2-0 in their last nine games.
The Blues scored the only goal of the first period as the Neighbors deflected a Fowler shot.
St. Louis extended its lead to 2-0 on Berggren’s power-play goal with 18:05 left in the second. Tarasov caught the shot with his glove, but the puck had barely crossed the line.
The Blues nearly made it 3-0 on a breakaway shot from Berggren. However, Tarasov made a glove save.
With 12:25 remaining in the second period, Florida’s Seth Jones attempted to poke the puck in from point-blank range. The puck bounced to the right circle where Jesper Boqvist’s shot was deflected by Greer.
The Blues challenged goaltender interference while Greer and Jones were in the blue paint. However, after video analysis, it is a good goal.
Florida then tied the score 2-2 on Reinhart’s power play goal with 7:15 left in the second. Brad Marchand got the first assist with his pass to Reinhart, who scored from the slot, beating Hofer to the glove side.
Faulk then gave the Blues a 3-2 lead. His back was to the net when he turned and shot beyond the right circle.
The Blues almost made it 4-2 with 14:14 left in the third, but Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling swept a loose puck over the line.
But the Blues still put the game away when Neighbors scored again with 7:58 remaining, and Thomas scored his first goal with 7:07 remaining.
Thomas then scored a short-handed empty-netter with 3:32 left for the final margin.
–Field level media
