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Observations From Blues' 6-2 Win Vs. Panthers

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What was this? An offensive explosion? Against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs, of all people?

That’s why sports of all sorts can be interesting in different sort of ways, but the St. Louis Blues, who came into Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers dead-last in scoring (2.44 goals per game) put up their largest offensive output of the season.

And it was a little bit of everyone, from Robert Thomas to Pavel Buchnevich to Jake Neighbours to Jonatan Berggren to Otto Stenberg, each with multi-point games.

Thomas (two goals, one assist) and Berggren (one goal, two assists) led the way, and Jake Neighbours (two goals) became the first Blue to reach double-digits in goals this season, and Stenberg had two assists for his first points in the NHL to lead the Blues to a 6-2 win against the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.

Joel Hofer made 27 saves in his fourth start the past five games and Justin Faulk also scored, a buzzer-beater (which we’ll get into below) at the end of the second period to give the Blues (14-15-8) a lead they would never relinquish in the third period.

Let’s go into Saturday’s game observations:

* Have the Blues found themselves a player? – Let’s pump the brakes a little bit and not get too excited about it (yet), but boy, this Berggren kid has fit in like a glove.

Berggren was moved up to the top line with Thomas and Buchnevich, who had two assists, after playing there in the third period on Thursday against the New York Rangers.

That line picked up where it left off and combined for eight points, and Berggren, who now has four points (two goals, two assists) in three games since being claimed off waivers last Tuesday from the Detroit Red Wings.

Not only was he inserted onto the top line, but Blues coach Jim Montgomery put him on the top power play unit and paid dividends immediately when his one-timer from the right circle was actually caught by Florida goalie Daniil Tarasov with a brilliant glove save but it was ruled a goal on the ice and after a look, referee Michael Markovic, who had a really good look live, was right and the puck was caught but across the goal line that gave the Blues a 2-0 lead at 1:55 of the second period:

But Berggren is making high-end plays, and he’s making himself more comfortable in this lineup. The fact he’s doing it this quickly is quite remarkable, to be honest. But again, he could be playing off a high of proving himself for the new team that took a chance on him. But if the Blues can continue to get this kind of production and effectiveness, they may have something here.

When it comes to waiver wire pickups that turned into gems, I look no further than the opponent tonight and Gustav Forsling, who was a waiver wire claim in 2021 by the Panthers from the Carolina Hurricanes, and he’s been a staple to their defense.

* Neighbours the catalyst for hard work – When the Blues work, particularly on the boards and forecheck in the offensive zone, they’re a tough out.

And who better to get the scoring started for the Blues on this night than Neighbours, who was stationed in the slot with a perfect redirect of Cam Fowler’s wrister at 9:59 of the opening period for a 1-0 lead:

The Blues won the opening O-zone face-off that came as a result of an intentional offside by the Panthers, and Stenberg picked up his first NHL point on the play, with Fowler getting his 400th NHL assist.

And it was a Neighbours goal at 12:02 of the third period that essentially sealed the game for the Blues and each member of the line had a solid contribution on it.

It started with a Brayden Schenn effective forecheck behind the net, and the captain wound up checking Seth Jones off the puck, center the puck to Stenberg, who had a nice touch pass to Neighbours and he finished upstairs for a 4-2 lead:

Neighbours made some nifty plays throughout the game, but his work ethic was infectious and rubbed off on others that also put on their work boots in this one.

* Blues overcome a couple questionable calls – Leading 2-0 in the second period, which hasn’t exactly been a stellar one for the Blues this season.

The first was on a goal scored by A.J. Greer to cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1 at 7:35 of the period, one in which Montgomery challenged for goalie interference, quite simply a rule nobody knows a darn thing about. Seriously.

It’s such a fickle rule, and we all know the effects of it when the Blues were on the bad judgment of a call in what ultimately turned into a 4-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken in November.

On this one, both Jones and Greer made their way into the crease, not forced in, and made contact with Hofer, but again, it was determined that neither affected Hofer’s ability to play his position.

Again, I disagree, and I have no qualms with the Blues challenging this. But this confusion goes around all over the league, and if it’s in the judgment of the officials on the ice, then why have any set rules for it in the first place? Just eliminate it and allow the officials to make those calls so teams don’t continually get confused by it.

The one that baffled me even more was Jon McIsaac’s holding penalty call on Colton Parayko in the neutral zone on Evan Rodrigues at 11:44 that ultimately led to Sam Reinhart’s power-play goal at 12:45 that tied the game 2-2.

This to me was a nothing call, two guys jostling for position, trying to play the puck, right in front of McIsaac. Swallow your whistle at this point and let them play, but if you’re going to take one there, then both should have been taken. Quite frankly, neither should have been taken, and in my judgment, it was a bad call of a good hockey play.

This is where the Blues could have buckled, despite the Panthers (19-14-2), who had won four straight, including a 4-3 shootout win against the Hurricanes rallying from a 3-0 third-period deficit in the final 10 minutes.

But they didn’t. Patience was a virtue.

* Faulk’s goal massive – The Blues have allowed them, but they had yet to get one themselves … until Saturday.

Not only did they get a goal in the final minute of a period or the first time, but Faulk just beat the horn with 0.8 seconds left at the end of the second to give them a much-needed 3-2 lead, another example of hard work, winning a puck behind the net, and it was Berggren again fighting through what looked like multiple holds and obstructions by Aaron Ekblad, winning the puck, sending it through the seam off the right boards, and Faulk steps into a clapper to beat Tarasov high on the short side:

At 2-2 with 20 minutes left, maybe there’s more juice in the Panthers’ tank to win a game, but chasing it, there’s a different emphasis, and the Blues can do some things different themselves.

* Blues kept the foot on the gas in the third – How many times have we seen this particular team sit back and either let the lead get away or hang on for dear life?

Not only did the Blues win, but they won handily. They were smart with pucks, patient with it, and the tone was set with Schenn, Neighbours and Stenberg opening the period, and playing their entire 45-second shift in the Florida zone.

When Neighbours finally gave them the two-goal cushion, Thomas put an exclamation point on the game whipping in his first of the night at 12:53, or 51 seconds after Neighbours made it 4-2, to make it 5-2 on more loose puck work behind the net by Berggren to find Buchnevich, who found Thomas with a slip pass and not much room to shoot:

And Thomas scored a shorthanded empty-netter to put icing on the cake at 16:28 for the 6-2 final.

But the Blues outshot Florida 16-8 in the third and were never overwhelmed by the Panthers’ effective forecheck. Hofer did his part intercepting rims throughout, and puck transition was pretty smooth throughout.

* Does Stenberg belong – Boy, the first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (No. 25 overall) sure doesn’t look overwhelmed, does he?

Not only his first two NHL points came, but he was a plus-2 in 11:39 of ice time, but man, does this kid have an infectious work ethic and he just seems to be in the right areas of the ice.

He had three shot attempts in this game, so he’s trying to get more involved offensively, but when you have a line like Schenn and Neighbours, and complement it with another hard worker like Stenberg, teams are going to hate playing against them.

The Blues are going to have some tough decisions to make when some of these injured guys return. And I’d be foolish not to mention Robby Fabbri, who had three shots on goal and played 13:40 but had two Grade A scoring chances in the game early on, rebounding well after being a healthy scratch Thursday.

Can you imagine: Fabbri was signed to a one-year, two-way contract a week and a half ago; Berggren was claimed off waivers four days ago and Stenberg was recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League four days ago and all are playing effectively for this team right now.

If anything, they’re going to make decisions difficult, and that’s OK.

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