After failing to finish off one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL, the struggling St. Louis Blues must now face another high-powered offense just two nights later.
The Blues will play the Florida Panthers on Thursday following their 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers at home on Tuesday.
“We’ve got to be able to close out games,” said Blues coach Jim Montgomery, whose team has a 1-4-1 record in its last six games.
At home, St. Louis had a 2-1 lead with just under three minutes remaining against the Oilers, but allowed a goal with Edmonton’s goalie off for an extra attacker.
Edmonton, averaging 3.28 goals per game, tied the game with Leon Draisaitl’s goal with 2:14 left in regulation and won in overtime with Connor McDavid assisting Connor Brown for the winner.
“We were more direct and harder to play against in the third,” said Blues captain Brayden Schenn. “At the end of the day, we had chances to make it 3-1 and didn’t capitalize, unfortunately, and gave some good players time and space.”
Now, the Blues face the Panthers, who score 3.27 goals per game. Forwards Matthew Tkachuk (four goals, three assists in four games) and Aleksander Barkov (two goals, seven assists in six games) have been leading the team.
Barkov provides strong play on both sides of the puck.
“A real powerful man, strong man,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “Never goes down. Never quits on the play. He’s such an honest player. He’s hard to handle one-on-one.”
The Blues will be helped defensively by the return of Nick Leddy, who played on Tuesday after missing 49 games due to an injury.
With Leddy back, the Blues have one of the most experienced defensive groups in the NHL. St. Louis added Ryan Suter in the offseason and traded for Cam Fowler during the season to join veterans Colton Parayko and Justin Faulk.
“As a coach, it’s very comforting because all of them have played so much, and because they are good and have handled so many situations,” Montgomery said. “All of them have been top-pairing defensemen. All of them have been in situations where they’ve had to be shutdown pairings, and most of them have also been relied upon to run a No. 1 power play, four of them.”
The Panthers had a three-game winning streak broken by a 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals. The game was tied 2-2 going into the third period, but the Panthers got caught pushing too hard offensively.
“I think we were pushing a little too hard for a goal and gave up too many odd-man rushes and good scoring chances, and they capitalized,” said Panthers forward Sam Bennett.
“We don’t turn over pucks in the offensive zone, and we did, and it’s in our net,” Maurice said. “The margin for error for two good teams is pretty tight.”
Florida beat St. Louis 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 20 at home. Barkov had an assist in regulation and scored the overtime winner. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
