Cats Sang Blues, Fell 4-1 to St. Louis In Sunrise Return

Sunrise, FL – It’s always a good feeling to head home for the holidays, and the Florida Panthers needed it more than ever after a long road trip that didn’t go their way. However, it wasn’t close as the Blues played a near-perfect game, and the Cats fell by a score of 4-1.

A five-game road trip for the Panthers, which began on December 10th, saw very mixed results with Florida going 2-3, knocking off Columbus and Edmonton but falling to Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary. Nevertheless, things are better in front of a home crowd, and the Cats looked to right their wrongs against a middle-of-the-road St. Louis Blues team who recently fired their head coach but have done well in the four games with their interim coach.

Goals were a tough commodity in this contest with both goalies having solid games. However, after the Blues broke open the scoring in the second period, they got in rhythm. On the other hand, Florida couldn’t find the back of the net.

“Every team goes through a stretch where they’re not scoring,” said head coach Paul Maurice postgame. “We’re going to look at it, we’re going to talk about it, the language won’t all be clean because that’s not the way we play. And they know that. This is almost an inevitable turn your team takes at one point.”

All Gas, But No Brakes On Offense

What plagued Florida in this game, much like some of their previous outings, was an inability to sink a shot in the back of the net. They once again commanded the shots on goal, spending most of their time in the Blues side of the net.

Leaving much to be desired, the first period came and went with neither team able to best their opposite goalies. Florida specifically had a couple of peculiar shots that bounced off the post, along with a wasted power play during all of the commotion, but no dice.

The offense started to crank up in the second period when St. Louis found a successful wrister off a breakaway. To the Blues’ credit, their passing game off a turnover was stellar and left Sergei Bobrovsky and the Cats defense in the dust. In any event, St. Louis found themselves with a lead.

It appeared that the Blues found another goal less than a minute later, catching the Panthers off guard, but it was called back due to a missed offsides call. However, this didn’t stop St. Louis from keeping up the pressure. Three minutes after their first goal, they hit another breakaway goal. This time it was a backhander to double up their lead.

Doesn’t matter how, just matters that it did!! pic.twitter.com/AXoaPbC6Hl

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 22, 2023

A Stroke of Luck?

Later on with seven minutes to go in the period, one of the wildest goals you might see occurred when Eetu Luostarinen sent a pass off the glass near center ice. However, this turned out to not be a pass. Instead, it was a shot into an empty net as the Blues goalie wasn’t paying attention. Loustarinen found the back of the net for a seemingly unintentional goal, but a goal nonetheless. This was reviewed to essentially double-check what just happened, but the goal counted and the Cats were back in it.

This goal turned out to be all all-for-not. Three minutes later, St. Louis got one more goal back. Thanks to a tip-in, which got passed by Bobrovsky, the Blues brought back their lead to a comfortable 3-1.

To speedrun the third period, it was physical but didn’t result in a single goal for the Panthers. Ryan Lomberg thought he had himself a tip-in during the middle of the period, but a high-stick was called instead. Their luck had run out.

Not long after, with three minutes to go, Bobrovsky was taken out of the game. This just led to a Blues steal and an empty netter for St. Louis to close out the game as 4-1 winners.

The Spirit Of St. Louis And The Stats

The stats are as frustrating as you might think considering the time Florida spent with the puck in possession. 38 shots compared to 24 is a great stat to look at. However, the fact that Florida only got one goal off of them, in a freak accident of a play, is disappointing.

On defense,  St. Louis recorded 16 shots compared to only three by the Panthers. The Blues also achieved more hits, but Florida rebounded with more successful faceoffs and takeaways, but that was all for not.

Bobrovsky finished the game with 20 saves, a rather unremarkable night but it is what it is. Loustarinen’s goal was assisted by Dmitry Kulikov, the only other point achieved on the night.

Florida unfortunately keeps slipping, now with a record of 18-12-2. They’re tied with Toronto for second in the Atlantic division, with both teams behind Boston. Florida will stay home for an anticipated matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights – a rematch of the Stanley Cup Finals. That’ll be on Saturday, December 23rd at 3 pm.