The St. Louis Blues avenged an earlier-season loss to the Florida Panthers, holding on for a 5-4 victory after blowing a two-goal lead in a penalty-filled, back-and-forth game. The win was sealed with Jimmy Snuggerud’s power-play goal with 8.4 seconds remaining. The Blues put an end to their five-game losing streak and are now 20-25-9.

First Period

Florida jumped on the Blues right away, controlling play early and opening the scoring at 3:12 when A.J. Greer put home his own rebound for a 1-0 lead. The Panthers had four shots in the first 3:17 and looked comfortable from the start.

The Blues answered quickly, and it came from a player who wasn’t even a lineup lock this morning. Jake Neighbours dressed and made an immediate impact, finishing a breakaway off a great pass from Pavel Buchnevich to tie the game 1-1 at 4:46 on St. Louis’ first shot.

Just a few minutes later, another injured-and-questionable Blue got on the board. Philip Broberg picked off a stretch pass at center, skated it in himself, and found Jordan Kyrou in front. Kyrou ripped a glove-side snap shot to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 7:51. Neighbours and Kyrou both left the game against the Stars on Tuesday with injuries and were questionable to play. They ended up being the first two players to get on the board.

Special teams swung the momentum again, and it’s been a familiar story lately. The Blues’ penalty kill struggled lately and has been a liability. This time, Sam Reinhart buried a rebound at 9:22 to tie it 2-2 after a tripping call on Nathan Walker.

St. Louis had chances to respond with the man advantage, including a brief 5-on-3, but couldn’t convert. Dalibor Dvorsky took a bad holding penatly taking the 5-on-3 away. Luckily, they did find the go-ahead goal at 14:27 during 4-on-4 play when Justin Faulk made a highlight-reel move through traffic and set up Jonatan Berggren for a 3-2 goal, the Blues’ first 4-on-4 tally of the season.

The Blues finished the period strong, generating three good scoring chances in the final 30 seconds, and took a 3-2 lead into the break.

Second Period

The Blues couldn’t have drawn it up any better to start the period. Just 41 seconds into the period, Oskar Sundqvist, who had been activated off IR earlier in the day, skated into the zone by himself and fired a shot from near the blue line that slipped past Danill Tarasov off the blocker to make it 4-2. With the goal, all three players who were questionable in the morning, Neighbours, Kyrou, and Sundqvist were on the scoreboard.

The middle of the period became choppy with a long stretch of penalties. The Blues went on the power play at 6:20, but Dalibor Dvorsky was called for tripping at 7:09, which led to 4 on 4 play. Moments later, Brayden Schenn was called for holding at 7:25, giving Florida 55 seconds of 4 on 3. An interference penalty on Sam Bennett briefly created 23 seconds of 3 on 3 before the Panthers went back to 4 on 3.

Despite the chaos, no goals were scored during the sequence, largely due to Joel Hofer. Mackie Samoskevich broke in alone on a breakaway during the Panthers’ 4 on 3, but Hofer made a huge save to keep the Blues ahead.

At 11:12, emotions boiled over when Tyler Tucker crashed the net and was quickly surrounded by Panthers players. Tucker responded by dropping the gloves with Greer, bringing some physical energy into the game.

Florida pushed back late in the period. Matthew Tkachuk cut the Blues’ lead to one at 16:52 with a slick move in his hometown, beating Hofer after being given too much space. The Panthers tied the game at 18:39, once again taking advantage of a struggling Blues penalty kill. The Blues lost a wall battle, the puck came loose, and Tkachuk came in off the right side and slipped a shot through Hofer for his second goal of the night and his first two goals of the season.

The Blues entered the period with a 4-2 lead but headed to the third period tied 4-4.

Third Period

The Blues controlled the first half of the third period, keeping possession and limiting Florida’s opportunities. There were not many high-grade chances, but St. Louis spent most of the time in control of the puck and did a good job shutting things down defensively. Florida did not record its first shot of the period until 11:17 remaining.

At 11:01, Nick Bjugstad was called for high-sticking and assessed a four-minute double minor. The call was reviewed and stood despite no blood being drawn. Florida had already scored twice on the power play, but the Blues’ penalty kill came through this time, killing off the entire four minutes. Near the end of the kill, Hofer made a big save to keep the game tied.

Tempers flared after a collision behind the net as Hofer and Tkachuk went at each other. Both were called for roughing, resulting in 4 on 4 play.

At 18:06, Niko Mikkola ran into Hofer and was called for interference, giving the Blues 40 seconds of 4 on 3. The Blues did not convert there, but the power play carried over to 5 on 4. With 8.4 seconds left, Jimmy Snuggerud was set up for a one-timer and hammered it home to give the Blues a 5-4 lead.

St. Louis killed off the final seconds and secured the win.

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