Florida Panthers GameDay
Let’s Play Two: Florida Panthers 4, St. Louis Blues 3 (SO)
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues do not have a lot of advance scouting to do prior to their next game.
All they need they got on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues have to be thrilled they’re going home with a point.
Despite dominating possession, pace of play, scoring chances — well, everything — the Panthers could not get enough past St. Louis goalie Ville Husso to win in regulation.
Instead, Florida had to go to overtime before winning it 4-3 on a Sam Reinhart goal in the shootout.
When Reinhart scored in Round 3, it was the first time the Panthers had led all day. They did it when it counted.
Now, the Panthers fly northwest to take on the Blues — this time in St. Louis — on Tuesday night.
From a 1 o’clock kickoff on Saturday to playing the same Western Conference opponent in consecutive games, this home-and-home series is already off to an odd start.
By beating the Blues on Saturday (there was a smaller comeback needed this time), the Panthers ended their four-game homestand with a 3-1 record despite playing it without captain Sasha Barkov and Anthony Duclair, one of their leading scorers.
Florida did have Maxim Mamin and Reinhart, though, and they picked up a lot of the scoring slack.
So did Lucas Carlsson who is filling in quite well for the injured Gus Forlsing.
After having a goal and primary assist Thursday, Carlsson had a big hand in Florida’s first two goals on Saturday.
The two teams traded goals in the first two periods with the score tied both at the end of the first (1-1) and second (2-2).
Even though the Panthers were dominating time of possession — as seen here on NaturalStatTrick.com — they just could not break free of the Blues.
St. Louis, which went 1-1 in its recent home-and-home with Tampa Bay, got the first goal of the game when Logan Brown got in front of the net and buried a feed from Dakota Joshua at 5:24.
FHN TODAY: Hard Rock Sportsbook suspends sports betting in Florida for now
Less than two minutes later, Mamin got his second of the season — and first of the day — by drilling a drop pass from the red-hot Carlsson to tie the score.
Florida had a couple of chances to take a lead (Sam Bennett was stuffed on the doorstep and Ryan Lomberg’s shot into a goalie-less net was blocked by Joshua’s leg) but did not.
In the second, the Blues made it 2-1 on a 4-on-4 slapshot from Jake Walman.
The Panthers countered with a Reinhart goal with two minutes left before the second intermission.
Reinhart jumped all over a loose puck left from a Carlsson shot.
The Blues got their lead back in the third period not long after Florida failed to score on a power play gained by Huberdeau getting slashed on another breakaway.
At 4:29 of the third, Brandon Saad scored off a give-and-go pass from Oskar Sundqvist and put it under the right pad of Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 3-2.
The Panthers got a third shot at the power play with 5:02 remaining and again failed to score.
On Florida’s 50th shot of the night — with the net empty — Anton Lundell won a faceoff, fed Mamin and he tied it with 2:34 remaining.
Florida had a multitude of chances in overtime and even had an extended 4-on-3 chance. Husso stood strong, however, and all but willed the Blues a point in this one.
The Panthers ended up outshooting the Blues 51-25.
GR’S THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Maxim Mamin, Florida
2. Ville Husso, St. Louis
3. Sam Reinhart, Florida
FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT ST. LOUIS BLUES
- WHEN: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
- WHERE: Enterprise Center, St. Louis
- TV/STREAMING: Bally Sports Florida
- RADIO: WQAM 560
- Last season: Did not play