Jimmy Snuggerud scored a power-play goal with nine seconds left, giving the St. Louis Blues a 5-4 victory over the visiting Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who snapped a five-game losing streak (0-4-1). Jake Neighbours, Jonatan Berggren and Oskar Sundqvist also scored for the Blues.
St. Louis’ Justin Faulk and Pavel Buchnvich had two assists, and Joel Hofer made 16 saves.
Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and an assist for the Panthers. Sam Reinhart added a goal and assist, A.J. Greer also scored and Daniil Tarasov stopped 26 shots.
The Panthers played without winger Brad Marchand in the third period.
Florida struck first during the wide-upon opening period. Greer took Luke Kunin’s pass from behind the net and scored with second effort 3:12 into the game.
The Blues tied the contest off the rush 1:34 later. Buchnevich’s pass sent Neighbours up the ice to convert a partial breakaway.
St. Louis took a 2-1 lead at 7:51 of the first period. Philip Broberg intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, rushed up the left wing and found the trailing Kyrou for the go-ahead goal.
Just 1:31 later, the Panthers tied the game on a power play. Tkachuk deflected Uvis Balinskis’ shot from the blue line, and Reinhart swatted in the rebound.
The Blues took a 3-2 lead with a 4-on-4 goal at 14:27 of the first. Faulk muscled his way up the left wing and made a one-handed pass to Berggren streaking in from the right wing.
Sundqvist put the Blues up 4-2 only 41 seconds into the second period by firing a long shot off the rush that Tarasov muffed.
Tkachuk cut Florida’s deficit to one by faking Hofer and scoring on his backhand with 3:08 left in the middle period. Less than two minutes later, Tkachuk tied the game 4-4 with a power-play goal coming out of right corner.
The Blues killed off a double-minor penalty in the third period, setting the stage for Snuggerud’s late game-winner. Niko Mikkola was off for interfering with Hofer, producing the decisive power play.
–Field Level Media
