With less than a second left in the second period, the Blues got back on top, with Justin Faulk firing a shot from below the blue line that slipped past Tarasoff to make it 3-2 at 19:59.
Defenseman Niko Mikkola said the goal was “unlucky.”
The Blues had a two-goal cushion in the third period thanks to a strong forecheck, but Neighbors sank his second goal to make it 4-2 at 12:02.
Less than a minute later, Robert Thomas’ one-time goal at 12:53 made it 5-2.
The Panthers drew Tarasov on the power play for a 6-4 advantage, but Thomas fired the puck into an empty net for a short goal at 16:28, giving the Blues a 6-2 lead.
When a winning streak ends, it’s an opportunity to start a new one.
“There’s not much to say,” Reinhardt said of the loss. “We’re going to go through this difficult part of the year. Right now it’s all about recovery and regrouping. We have another big event before the Christmas break.”
they said it
“We’re getting a lot of mileage on our top two lines and our top four D-line. We’ll have a day and a half off at home to recover. We expect to do really well in Carolina. We’ve been doing really well. I think the last tough game was Colorado.” – Paul Maurice
“Recovery and rest are important, especially during this time.” – Sam Reinhart
“I think they were tough on us and didn’t give us too much space. Maybe it wasn’t our best game. I think we started to stretch our game a little bit. That’s not our problem.” – Niko Mikkola
cat statistics
– Sam Bennett won a team-high 12 faceoffs.
– AJ Grier and Luke Kunin each had four hits.
– Seth Jones led Florida in time on ice (24 minutes, 58 seconds) and shots (8).
– Sam Reinhart has four goals in the last four games.
What’s next?
One more thing before the holidays.
The Panthers are scheduled to pack up and head to Raleigh for a rematch against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at 7pm ET at Lenovo Center.
Click here to watch.
