Blues’ 3rd-period burst sinks Panthers

[February 06, 2019]  The St. Louis Blues rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit, defeating the host Florida Panthers 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Vince Dunn scored the go-ahead goal with 3:53 left in the third period, clanging his shot in off the left post. Colton Parayko and Ryan O'Reilly also scored for the Blues.

Blues backup goalie Jordan Binnington made 22 saves to earn his third straight win. He is 7-1-1 this season.

After getting outshot 11-7 in the first period, the Blues woke up. They outshot the Panthers 10-5 in the second period and 19-8 in the third.

Rookie Henrik Borgstrom and captain Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, both on the power play.

Backup goalie James Reimer took the loss, making 31 saves. Reimer's two-game win streak was snapped.

Florida got the game's first eight shots on goal and took a 1-0 lead with 65 seconds remaining in the opening period.

After Blues forward Jaden Schwartz was penalized for tripping Vincent Trocheck, the 6-foot-3 Borgstrom scored on the ensuing power play, using his long reach to rebound a shot from Frank Vatrano.

Florida went ahead 2-0 with another power-play goal, this one with 30 seconds elapsed in the third period. Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was penalized with two seconds left in the second period for cross-checking Colton Sceviour.

When play resumed in the third period, a shot hit Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo in the face, taking him out of the play. Florida's Mike Hoffman retrieved the puck behind the net and fed Barkov, who was unguarded on the doorstep, due to Pietrangelo's momentary injury.

The Blues, however, battled back to tie the score. With 3:05 gone in the third period, Parayko stretched out to score a wrap-around goal.

O'Reilly then tied the score on a mad scramble in front of the crease with 11:09 elapsed. After several seconds of trying to find the puck, O'Reilly finally drilled his shot five-hole.

The Panthers called for a video review, claiming that Vladimir Tarasenko's stick was in the blue paint, interfering with Reimer. But the Panthers were denied on their review.

After the Blues took the lead, the Panthers pulled Reimer with 2:02 left. Hoffman missed off the post in the final minute, and St. Louis hung on for the win.

--Field Level Media

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