The Florida Panthers rode two unassisted goals by fourth line plugger Derek MacKenzie for a tough-fought 3-1 win on the road against the St. Louis Blues.
The Panthers held the Blues without a shot for the first 16 minutes of the game, and closed the first with a 4-3 edge in shots-on-goal in maybe the least entertaining first period of hockey I’ve seen this year. Thankfully, they made the second period more interesting.
The 33rd minute of the game would see the Panthers score twice in 13 seconds, followed 21 seconds after that with St. Louis’ only marker of the contest. In addition to MacKenzie’s two goals, Brandon Pirri also lit the lamp for his fifth of the campaign.
Roberto Luongo stopped 29-of-30 shots to push his record above .500 to 9-8-3 on the season. He can thank the defensive corps for their hard work as well, with 16 blocked shots led by captain Willie Mitchell’s five. Quinton Howden led the Panthers with five hits in only 9:33 of ice time as the Cats totaled 19 for the night.
Four in a row is not out of the question either – so tune back in on Thursday night at 8PM for a showdown in Nashville against the Predators. As always, check back here for all of your Panthers news – and join us for the GameThread 30 minutes prior to the puck drop, as always.