Hofer and Buchnevich lead St. Louis Blues past sliding Florida Panthers, 4-1

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Joel Hofer stopped 38 shots, Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and the St. Louis Blues topped the sliding Florida Panthers 4-1 on Thursday night.

Buchnevich added an assist, giving him a three-point night. Robert Thomas had three assists, and Jordan Kyrou and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues.

Eetu Luostarinen scored the Panthers’ lone goal, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.

St. Louis has won three of its last four games under interim coach Drew Bannister, matching the best stretch of the season for the Blues. They've also won four straight against Florida and are 6-1-1 versus the Panthers in their last eight meetings.

The loss was the fourth in Florida's last five games, the team's worst such stretch of the season. The defending Eastern Conference champions have been held to one goal or less in all four of those losses.

That slump means the Panthers won't be taking much momentum into one of their more notable games of the regular season. They host Vegas on Saturday in their first meeting since the Golden Knights beat the Panthers in last season's Stanley Cup Final.

Kyrou opened the scoring 4:50 into the second period and Buchnevich — shortly after getting a goal taken off the board because the play was ruled offside — made it 2-0 at 7:46.

Luostarinen caught Hofer off-guard with a clearing attempt that bounced off the glass and into an empty net — Hofer was waiting for a bounce that never came. Toropchenko restored the two-goal lead for St. Louis with 3:17 to go in the second period with a deflection of Marco Scandella's shot, and Buchnevich added an empty-netter with 3:09 to play.

The Panthers have another milestone of sorts awaiting Friday. The team will hold its first practice at the War Memorial in Fort Lauderdale, about 2 1/2 years after the team broke ground on what was budgeted to be a $65 million refurbishment of a facility originally built in the 1950s.

UP NEXT

Blues: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Panthers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon.

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