Backes, Tarasenko score; Blues hold off Panthers 5-3
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}David Backes, Jaden Schwartz and Robby Fabbri scored in the first period and the St. Louis Blues rolled to a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen also scored for the Blues, and Colton Parayko had two assists.
Derek MacKenzie, Aaron Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Florida, and Jaromir Jagr had two assists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brian Elliott made his 13th straight start in place of top goalie Jake Allen and had 29 saves for St. Louis.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo moved past Glenn Hall and into sixth in career NHL games played with his 907th appearance. He had 10 saves on 13 shots before being replaced after the first period by Al Montoya. Montoya stopped 13 of 15 shots.
MacKenzie scored 5:05 in with his third goal against St. Louis this season, but then the Blues blitzed Luongo and the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers with three goals in a 7:25 span.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Backes scored his 13th at 12:16 by beating Luongo on the stick side.
Schwartz put the rebound of Parayko's shot past Luongo at 15:57 for his first of the season. Schwartz was returning after missing 49 games with a fractured ankle.
Fabbri scored on the power play with 19 seconds left for his 12th goal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tarasenko scored his 27th goal on a rebound at 8:00 of the second period to make it 4-1 before Ekblad's 11th goal at 10:44 cut into the lead.
Huberdeau trimmed the margin to one goal when he tallied his 11th by tapping in a pass through the crease from Campbell at 10:47 of the third.
Steen roofed his 16th goal at 12:17 to help St. Louis regain the two-goal margin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NOTES: St. Louis D Alex Pietrangelo (knee) is expected to miss at least three weeks. ... Last season, the Blues were an NHL-best 21-8-3 in play outside of the Western Conference but entered their game with Florida just 10-9-5 against the Eastern this year. ... The Panthers recalled F John McFarland, a 2010 second-round pick (33rd overall), from Portland (AHL). The 23-year-old McFarland was scratched from the lineup. ... Florida top-line center Aleksander Barkov (upper body) missed his second consecutive game after being injured in Detroit. ... The club sent down F Corban Knight.