After St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock warned hours earlier not to expect too much from Jaden Schwartz in his return, the forward made a major contribution in a win against the Florida Panthers. Schwartz had a goal and an assist, and the Blues defeated the Panthers 5-3 at BB&T Center. Schwartz was playing for the first time since Oct. 20 after missing 49 games with an ankle injury.
Vladimir Tarasenko and David Backes each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who had failed to score at least two goals in five of their previous six games. Robby Fabbri and Alexander Steen scored for St. Louis, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk got his 200th point with the Blues with an assist on Schwartz's goal. Colton Parayko had two assists. Goalie Brian Elliott, making his 13th consecutive start, made 28 saves.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who were 11-1-1 in their previous 13 home games. Derek MacKenzie and Aaron Ekblad scored, and Jaromir Jagr had two assists. Jagr has 1,842 NHL points, eight behind Gordie Howe for third place on the NHL's all-time list, and remains two goals behind Brett Hull for third with 739.
Roberto Luongo moved into sixth place among NHL goaltenders by playing in his 907th game, but it was an abbreviated appearance. Luongo, who was tied with Glenn Hall, was pulled after the first period after allowing three goals on 13 shots. Al Montoya made 13 saves in relief.
St. Louis led 4-1 after Tarasenko scored at 8:00 of the second period on a rebound after Montoya stopped Jay Bouwmeester's wrist shot from the left circle. The Panthers made it 4-2 when Ekblad scored at 10:44 after Jagr stole the puck inside the Blues zone. Ekblad beat Elliott with a high one-timer to the glove side from halfway between the top of the circle and the blue line. Huberdeau made it 4-3 at 10:47 of the third when he redirected Brian Campbell's pass across the front of the net.
Steen made it 5-3 at 12:17 when he beat Montoya with a high backhand from a sharp angle. The goal was confirmed after Florida challenged, claiming the play was offside. MacKenzie, who had two goals when the Panthers defeated the Blues 3-1 at Scottrade Center on Dec. 1, made it 1-0 at 5:05 of the first period before the Blues answered with four consecutive goals. Backes tied it 1-1 at 12:16 with a wrist shot from the left dot that went between Luongo's body and his right arm. It was his first goal in 11 games.
Schwartz scored his first goal of the season at 15:58. It came on a rebound after Luongo stopped Parayko's wrist shot from the right circle. Schwartz played the first seven games of the season before he was injured at practice.
Fabbri scored with 18.9 seconds left in the period with Florida center Vincent Trocheck in the penalty box for delay of game. Paul Stastny's centering pass from the side of the net bounced off the skate of defenseman Alex Petrovic to Fabbri, who scored on the short side.
St. Louis ends its two-game road trip, which involved players' fathers, against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Florida continues a six-game homestand Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
Blues Quotes
Jaden Schwartz: "I felt pretty good. I tried not to think about it too much, just go out there and play, move my feet early, try to get in the game as quick as I could. The adrenaline was going too. Overall, I felt a little bit better than I thought I would. I didn't know what to expect, so it went well. It was fun being a part of the team again and contributing."Brian Elliott: "We gave up one early on a bad rebound by me, but we responded really well. We just kept to our game plan and they kept going in. Having Schwartz back and him getting a goal right away, it's pretty cool."
"[Schwartz has] been watching games for I don't know how many months now, so it's good to see him get back out there and put it in right away. We obviously can't expect that every night, but he's a big piece to our puzzle."
David Backes: "I kept looking at [Patrik Berglund] and tried to rip it short side, get the goalie moving or thinking it's going over there a little bit and open up a hole. That was a big monkey off my back. It's great to contribute offensively."
Panthers Quotes
Gerard Gallant: "It was just to shake up the team. [Roberto's] been a horse all year long. It was just to shake up the team; we weren't happy with how we were playing. It actually worked a little bit in the second."Jaromir Jagr: "They were faster, quicker on every loose puck in the first period. After that, I thought we started putting the pucks in the zone and creating more scoring chances and scored some goals. We had a bad start, but in the second half of the game I thought we were fine."
Jonathan Huberdeau: "We were not as sharp as we were the past few games. I think tomorrow we've got to come back and be better defensively. That's usually where we're good at. Tonight we allowed too many odd-man rushes."
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