Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal with 0.7 seconds left in the second period and the St. Louis Blues coasted past the Florida Panthers 6-2 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas scored twice each for the Blues, and Jonatan Berggren added one goal and two assists.
Neighbours leads the Blues with 10 goals this season.
Also for the Blues, Cam Fowler posted his 400th career assist on the Blues’ first goal Saturday.
The game was a battle between backup goalies. Joel Hofer made 27 saves to earn the win.
Florida’s Daniil Tarasov posted 24 saves, and the Panthers got one goal each from A.J. Greer and Sam Reinhart.
Despite the loss — which broke Florida’s four-game win streak — the Panthers are 7-2-0 in their past nine games.
The Blues scored the only goal in the first period as Neighbours tipped in a shot by Fowler.
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 just barely crossed the line.
The Blues nearly made it 3-0 as Berggren had a breakaway shot. However, Tarasov made a glove save.
With 12:25 left in the second, Florida’s Seth Jones tried to stuff the puck in from point-blank range. The puck bounced out to the right circle where Jesper Boqvist’s shot was tipped in by Greer.
The Blues challenged for goalie interference as Greer and Jones were in the blue paint. After a video review, however, it was ruled 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 had the primary assist with his pass to Reinhart, who scored from the slot, beating Hofer glove-side.
Faulk then gave the Blues a 3-2 lead. He had his back to the net when he spun and shot from beyond the right circle.
The Blues nearly made it 4-2 with 14:14 left in the third, but Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling swept a loose puck off the line.
But the Blues put the game away anyway when Neighbours scored again with 7:58 left, and Thomas got 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
