Florida Throttles Blues 7-4

Florida Panthers vs St. Louis Blues - Game 46 Recap
Goals: Stastny (10), Parayko (5), Tarasenko (19) and Thompson (3)
Record 26-17-3

My thoughts on the game

• "We were not good enough." - Coach Mike Yeo after the game. That pretty much sums up every facet of this game. The Blues were outshot (36-30 shots on goal, it was 27-16 after 2 periods), outhit, outhustled, and just about any other category you could name, Florida outdid us for the lackluster effort we have been showing all too frequently lately.
• Other than the first 8 minutes of the game, the Blues just didn't show up. They scored at :48 seconds of the first period on a nice goal by Stastny. Barbashev directed the puck across the ice at Edmundson, who was charging the net. The puck hit Edmundson awkwardly and fell in front of Stastny.  He raked the puck around the goaltender and into the net for his 10th goal of the season.
• Colton Parayko made it 2-0 at 8:05 on a nice pass from Tarasenko across the ice finding the goaltender a bit out of position. 
• However, Florida cut the lead in half just 1:09 later when the St. Louis defense left the weak side totally exposed. Aaron Ekblad got the puck on the right side. Jake Allen recovered nicely to close off the exposed net but Ekblad made a good move and went left and shoveled a backhand shot past Jake. 
• They tied the game at 16:57 when a crossing pass hit the skate of Aleksander Barkov and went into the net. Florida had 15 shots on goal compared to 7 for St. Louis.  Other than the first 8 minutes, the Panthers owned the first period. 
• Tarasenko got his 19th goal at 4:17 of the second period on a nice tic-tac-toe play from Barbashev and Stastny. Vladi's wrist shot went over the glove of Florida goalie, James Reimer and just under the cross bar to give the Blues a 3-2 lead. 
• Florida again answered 8 minutes later when Vrbata scored while the Blues stood by and watched him skate in and put the puck over Jake's left shoulder.
• After a face-off win in the St. Louis zone, Florida scored again when Jake seemed to be caught a little off balance. This was one that looked like he could or should have stopped. 
• They went up 5-3 when the Blues watched Trocheck skate into open ice and have a point blank shot right at the net. This one chased Allen and some of the Scottrade fans cheered as Hutton was summoned from the bench.
• Shortly after Hutton entered, Florida got a breakaway on a long stretch pass up the ice, nobody from St. Louis was back and the attacking Panther beat Hutton but hit the crossbar. It was further proof that all of the issues can't be blamed on the goaltenders and some blame must be accepted by the rest of the team.  The Blues were outshot 12-9 in the 2nd period.
• Florida scored a short-handed goal at 13:02 of the 3rd, making it 6-3.
• Just when I was about to say "Where has Tage Thompson gone?" he shows up and hits a post and scores a goal a few minutes later when Sobotka hits him high in the slot with a perfect pass. Tage snapped it into the the net for his 3rd of the season.
• Another stat that made a difference was that Florida won 64% of the face-offs. The Blues couldn't control much of anything in this one.
• There are some troubling trends taking shape here, but I'm hopeful that they can get back to playing like they did in the first 20 games of the season.  It's still the same team.  They did it before and they can do it again.  I still like our chances.  Schwartz should be back in a couple more weeks.  I think he'll make a big difference if he's healthy.

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB