Porter, Blues top Panthers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Porter scored the game-winning goal with 1:54 remaining in the third period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Maxim Lapierre, Ian Cole and Paul Stastny all scored for St. Louis, which has won its last two games. Martin Brodeur made 32 saves in his home debut.
"It wasn't pretty, but we got it done," said Brodeur. "There's games that are going to be a lot easier to win, but this one was a tough one."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nick Bjugstad and Aaron Ekblad both lit the lamp for Florida, which received 24 stops from Roberto Luongo in defeat.
"Disappointed to lose the way we lost at the end, but I thought we battled hard and competed hard with a really good club," Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant said.
With the game tied at 2-2, Porter redirected Barret Jackman's right point shot and Stastny tallied an empty-net goal with 32 seconds remaining to seal the win.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Panthers appeared to get on the board 2:30 into the game as Tomas Kopecky rushed through the slot and fired a shot that Brodeur squeezed with his pads. The play was reviewed, but it was ruled no goal.
Just over eight minutes into the contest, the Blues had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:54, but Luongo came up big and denied Jori Lehtera with his right pad on a tip-in attempt in tight.
Lapierre fired a shot from the right side that deflected off Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck's skate and into the net to give St. Louis the lead 11:17 into the opening stanza.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cole's slap shot from the high slot deflected off a Panthers defender and past Luongo for a 2-0 Blues lead with 2:26 remaining in the first.
Bjugstad cut Florida's deficit in half after he elected to shoot instead of pass on a 2-on-1, and his wrister found twine over Brodeur's shoulder with 4:39 to play in the middle frame.
The Panthers pulled even with 5:06 remaining as Ekblad jumped up on the play and beat Brodeur with a wrister from the right circle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
St. Louis has won five straight games against Florida ... The Blues improved to 13-3-1 when scoring first ... Panthers forward Dave Bolland returned to the lineup after missing 21 games with a groin injury ... The season series will conclude on Feb. 15 at BB&T Center.