Panthers' second-period barrage sinks Blues

[January 10, 2018]  The Florida Panthers, who scored three straight second-period goals -- all in a span of 4:14 -- defeated the St. Louis Blues 7-4 on Tuesday night at Scottrade Center.

Blues goalie Jake Allen (18 saves) was chased with 3:23 left in the second period, immediately following the fifth Panthers goal of the game, by Vincent Trocheck.

Allen has lost eight of his past nine starts, allowing 10 goals in his two most recent efforts, against the Philadelphia Flyers and Florida.

The Panthers, who rallied from an early 2-0 deficit, got three points each from Jonathan Huberdeau (one goal, two assists), Trocheck (two goals, one assist) and Aleksander Barkov (one goal, two assists).

Barkov's goal was the 87th of his career, tying David Booth for 10th place in Panthers history. Trocheck, meanwhile, got career assist No. 100.

Panthers goalie James Reimer, making his 15th straight start, earned the win, making 26 saves.

St. Louis opened the scoring, lighting the lamp just 48 seconds into the game. Paul Stastny spun away from a check by Florida defenseman Mark Pysyk, putting him in position to tap in a loose puck at the doorstep.

The Blues, using exquisite passing, scored again with 8:05 left in the first period. Brayden Schenn got the puck to Vladimir Tarasenko, whose cross-ice feed teed up Colton Parayko below the left circle.

Florida got on the board 69 seconds later as its defensemen went on the offensive. Keith Yandle's lead pass led to Aaron Ekblad's backhander goal.

The Panthers capped a wild first period, tying the score 2-2 on a lucky goal by Barkov, who had a pass from Huberdeau deflect in off his right skate. The play was set up by Evgenii Dadonov's impressive rush to the net.

 

 Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) scores against St. Louis Blues goaltender Jake Allen (34) during the first period at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

St. Louis got back on track to start the second period as Tarasenko scored off a cross-ice pass from Ivan Barbashev.

But the Panthers dominated the rest of the second period, starting with Radim Vrbata's top-shelf rebound goal that tied the score 3-3 with 12:23 expired in the second period.

Florida took a 4-3 lead when Barkov won a face-off, and Huberdeau pounced, scoring after some nifty stickhandling.

Trocheck completed the barrage, darting forward toward empty ice in the slot, taking Mike Matheson's lead pass and beating a beleaguered Allen.

Florida's Colton Sceviour added a third-period goal. St. Louis countered with a Tage Thompson goal with 2:41 left, but the Panthers held on and are now 11-0 this season when leading going into the third period.

Trocheck's empty-net goal with 2:04 left was the game's final punctuation.

--Field Level Media

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