ST. LOUIS — Brayden Schenn scored two goals and the Blues halted the surging Panthers during a 6-2 win on Tuesday night at Enterprise Center.
The win was the Blues’ second in as many games since the All-Star break, and handed Florida just its second loss in the last six games. St. Louis (25-25-3) returned to .500 after it dipped two games below at the break. It is also .500 at home (12-12-2) and .500 on the road (13-13-1).
It was Schenn’s first multi-goal game since Jan. 8 at Minnesota and gave him four points in two games this week. He was aiming for his first hat trick since Dec. 5, 2017 at Montreal, which was his only hat trick with the Blues.
Jordan Binnington made 34 saves to earn the win.
Schenn’s first goal was originally credited to Torey Krug on the power play after Krug banked a shot off the boards behind the net, and it rebounded off the back of Florida goaltender Spencer Knight’s right skate. But the goal was switched to Schenn during the intermission since it ticked off of him before tapping Knight.
The goal helped the Blues win the early special teams battle, as St. Louis killed a Tyler Tucker first-period tripping penalty thanks to a shot block by Alexey Toropchenko.
Schenn struck again just 35 seconds into the second period, finishing a 3-on-1 Blues rush with a shot that beat Knight on the far post. The play was jumpstarted by Jordan Kyrou’s defensive play in his own end, breaking up a play and sending the Blues out in transition.
The Blues can stretch their win streak to three games when they host the Devils on Thursday night.
Injury worries
The Blues lost both Krug (lower-body) and forward Brandon Saad (upper-body) during the second period on Tuesday night, forcing them to play the remainder of the game with just 11 forwards and five defensemen.
Before the third period, the team announced both would not return to the game.
Krug was playing in his sixth game since returning from a lower-body injury that forced him to miss 13 games. He did not play the final 32:08 against Florida.
Saad did not play another shift after his breakaway attempt rolled off the his stick, and missed the final 26:36.
The last two games have been the first time the Blues were at almost full strength, as they welcomed back Ryan O’Reilly, Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas to the lineup. It was the first time since Dec. 19 that O’Reilly, Buchnevich, Thomas, Krug and Kyrou all in the lineup.
Momentum swung
It looked like the Blues would take a commanding 4-0 lead when Justin Faulk snuck a shot through Spencer Knight’s glove hand with 4:53 remaining in the second period, but they instead took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice challenged the goal for a missed stoppage of play before Faulk scored, claiming Thomas played the puck illegally along the boards. The subsequent review showed Thomas batted the puck down to himself, and Faulk later scored on the possession.
It would have been Faulk’s seventh goal of the season and first since Dec. 27 against Toronto. Faulk also had a goal disallowed on Jan. 26 in Arizona, that time because of goaltender interference by Thomas.
Florida made it count when Eetu Luostarinen scored with 1:16 left in the second period, finishing a feed from Matthew Tkachuk in front of the net. In about 3 1/2 minutes, the Panthers turned a potential four-goal deficit into a two-goal Blues lead.
Quick strike
The Blues put the game away during a 20-second span in the third period, scoring two goals to open up a 5-1 lead.
O’Reilly scored for the second time in as many games, finishing a pass from Buchnevich on the rush for his 12th goal this season. Before public address announcer Tom Calhoun could finish announcing the O’Reilly goal, Kyrou tapped home a feed from Robert Thomas.
It was the third-fastest pair of goals by the Blues this season. They scored twice in 13 seconds at the Islanders on Dec. 6, and twice in 17 seconds at Seattle on Oct. 19.
Carter Verhaeghe scored to cut the lead to 5-2, but Ivan Barbashev's empty-net goal with 2:48 remaining restored a four-goal lead.
Milestone man
In his 900th career game, Blues defenseman Nick Leddy scored his 70th career goal. The goal gave the Blues a 3-0 lead, and came on a vintage Leddy play, as he skated the puck out of his own zone, took Panthers defenseman Marc Staal wide, and beat Knight with a snipe towards the far corner.
Barbashev picked up an assist on the Leddy goal.
