Panthers Moved By Blues

     The Florida Panthers blew a two-goal lead in the third period and lost to the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at BB&T Center on Tuesday night. It was the fourth game of a five-game home stand for the Cats.
       A poke-in shot by Evgenii Dadonov from the crease ended up on the goal line, however Colton Parayko swept the puck underneath his goalie just 3:27 in. The Panthers had the first eight shots on goal while the Blues did not have a shot on goal in the first nine minutes of the contest. Vladimir Tarasenko did hit the left post when he deflected a slap shot by Alex Pietrangelo from the right point at the 7:05 mark.
     Florida(21-22-8) took the lead on the power play with 1:05 left in the first period. Aaron Ekblad jumped up and stopped a clearing pass at the blue line. His wrist shot was partially deflected by a defender in the high slot to Frank Vatrano and Henrik Borgstrom swept in the puck with a forehand shot from the left of the crease.
     After no scoring in the second period, the Panthers scored 30 seconds into the third with the man advantage. Jordan Binnington saved a slap shot by Keith Yandle from the top of the zone. Mike  Hoffman got the rebound from behind the Blues cage, centered it and Alekander Barkov roofed in a snap shot from the blue paint. It was the 19th goal of the season for Barkov.
     St. Louis(24-22-5) answered back at the 3:05 mark. Oskar Sundqvist made a pass down low. Parayko carried the puck from the low right circle, around the Panthers net and stuffed in a wraparound shot past James Reimer for his ninth goal of the campaign.
     The Blues tied the game with 8:51 left in the third. There was a scramble in the crease area with the puck under Tarasenko and eventually Ryan O'Reilly smacked it in from close range.
     The contest was decided by St. Louis with 3:53 to go. Vince Dunn snapped a shot from the high slot after recovering a bouncing puck at the top of the zone.