Schenn's late goal leads Blues over Panthers

[December 12, 2018]  Brayden Schenn scored the go-ahead marker late in a four-goal third period as the St. Louis Blues beat the visiting Florida Panthers 4-3 on Tuesday.

Schenn scored with 3:55 remaining to thwart a Florida two-goal comeback as the Blues earned just their fourth win in their last 12 games.

David Perron scored two goals, and Ivan Barbashev added a goal for St. Louis.

Jake Allen recorded 22 saves, and the No. 1 goalie likely will see his workload increase immediately after backup Chad Johnson was claimed off waivers Tuesday by Anaheim due to Ryan Miller's injury.

Evgenii Dadonov, MacKenzie Weegar and Mike Hoffman scored goals for the Panthers, who lost their third straight, and Roberto Luongo stopped 29 shots.

St. Louis welcomed back Jaden Schwartz, who missed 11 games with an upper-body injury. The Blues were a dismal 3-7-1 without the left winger, who had two assists.

An odd play 5:17 into the game created a brief delay.

An entry shot by Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo up the board struck referee Tim Peel in the midsection. The puck traveled most of the goal line and trickled in past Luongo for what appeared to be a good goal.

However, the marker was disallowed because it went in off Peel, and the NHL issued a statement saying a puck cannot directly enter the net after striking an official and be considered a goal.

Dadonov scored a legitimate one at 15:29 of the first period after Aleksander Barkov sent the puck to Jonathan Huberdeau, who then slipped a perfect pass to Dadonov for the Russian winger's 14th goal.

After being outshot 10-5 by St. Louis in the opening period, the Panthers rebounded with a better offensive effort in the second, producing a pair of power-play chances and a 13-9 edge in shots.

St. Louis, which had scored just five goals in its last four games, stunned Florida inside the first two minutes of the third period when Barbashev earned his fourth goal in close and Perron fired in his ninth from the right circle just 11 seconds apart for a 2-1 lead.

Perron and Weegar traded goals 34 seconds apart later in the period, but Hoffman tied it with his 15th at 13:14.

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.