Panthers Come Back On Blues

     The Florida Panthers started the second half of the regular season and beat the St. Louis Blues 7-4 at Scottrade Center on Tuesday night. The Panthers finished a five-game road swing which included a postponed game in Boston last week.
     St. Louis(26-17-3) moved out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period at 48 seconds on their first shot of the contest. Joel Edmundson  shot the puck from far range on net and Paul Stastny put in the loose puck from the right of the crease past James Reimer.
     The Blues extended their lead to 2-0 during a 4-on-4 situation at 8:05 on just their fourth shot on goal. Brayden Schenn connected a pass from the top of the zone to Vladimir Tarasenko in the right circle. He passed across the slot to Colton Parayko and he scored on a one-timer from the low left circle.
     Florida(18-18-6) answered back quickly and scored at the 9:14 mark to make it 2-1. Denis Malgin skated the puck from behind the Blues net to the left wing and dropped it to Keith Yandle. He zipped a cross-ice pass to Aaron Ekblad in the low slot and he backhanded in a shot by Jake Allen.
     The Panthers climbed out of a two-goal deficit to tied it 2-2 with 3:03 left in the first. Jonathan Huberdeau was on the left goal line and forwarded the puck into the crease area. It went off the left skate of Aleksander Barkov and into the net. He tied with David Booth for 10th in Florida franchise history with his 87th career goal.
     In the second period, St. Louis regained the lead 3-2 at 4:17.  Alexander Steen was at center ice and made a left-outlet pass to Ivan Barbashev at the Panthers blue line. He sent a diagonal pass to the right circle where Tarasenko sailed in a wrist shot for his 19th tally of the season.
     The tide turned as Florida scored three straight goals to end the frame. Vincent Trocheck centered the puck off the body of Connor Brickley and Radim Vrbata raced in to score from the low slot at 12:23 and evened it 3-3.
     Barkov won a draw from the right face-off circle and Huberdeau charged in. He released a forehand shot from the edge of the circle for his 16th goal of the campaign with 4:05 to go.
     The Panthers got a two-goal margin 5-3 with 3:23 remaining. Michael Matheson carried the puck up the left-wing wall and backhanded a pass to Trocheck in the high slot. His snap shot was his 16th goal of the year.
     The Cats added a shorthanded goal, which is the most in the NHL this season, with 6:58 left in the third period. Colton Sceviour scored with an assist from Derek MacKenzie.
     The Blues made it closer 6-4 with 2:41 remaining. Tage Thompson scored from the slot area on a feed from Vladimir Sobotka from the end wall. Florida added an empty-net goal by Trocheck from the right wing with 2:04 to go in the third.