The Florida Panthers came up a bit short on Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues. Searching for a fifth consecutive win and playing their seventh game in 11 days, Florida couldn’t muster up the kind of performance necessary to excel in their demanding systems and dropped a frustrating 6-2 game to the Blues inside Amerant Bank Arena. Now the goal will be making sure that this was just a one-off, considering how much better the Cats had been playing this month. Now Florida has just one (very tough) game before they hit the holiday break, after which the Panthers will look to hit the ground running, with three games in four nights leading up to the Winter Classic. Let’s get to Saturday’s takeaways: LAST SECOND GOAL WAS KILLER As they had the night before, Florida battled their way back from an early deficit to draw the game back to even. This time, the Cats came back from an 0-2 hole to knot the score just past the midway point of the middle frame, and appeared to be pacing toward a tight third period battle with the Blues. With under a second on the clock, Justin Faulk put a shot past Daniil Tarasov that gave the visitors sudden life heading into the intermission, significantly changing the complexion of the game. “We needed to get into the third (tied at) two,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Then we can be real smart about how we're playing. It was a tough break.” RAN OUT OF GAS It wasn’t just that the Panthers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, or that they had just made a historic comeback the night before. There were several elements that factored into Florida’s display against the Blues on Saturday night, but ultimately, the Cats are going to chalk this one up to just being burnt out. Yes, the Panthers showed some solid signs and put up a good fight for a decent portion of the game, but ultimately they just started to look like a team that needed to reset and recharge. “That was fairly similar to the game that we played in Colorado,” said Maurice. “I think we went flat out as hard as we could, for as long as we could. The first two power plays (against St. Louis) were good, but other than that there wasn't part of a game that we could excel at. So yeah, we won’t watch it again, we won't talk about it again.” EXPECTED TO RESPOND WELL Over the past several weeks, the Panthers have seemed to turn a corner regarding their overall, consistent game. They have been able to avoid stacking up losses, instead showing a keen ability to bounce back when things don’t go their way. That ability will be put to the test when the Panthers travel to Carolina for a rematch with the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, a team that just lost to Florida despite holding a 3-0 lead with under 10 minutes to go. “The back-to-backs are not a problem,” Maurice said. “Everybody plays them, especially the ones that are at home. It's what stacks up around it, and how hard you have to run the top end (of our lineup) in the situation we’re in. We’ve put a lot of miles on the top two lines and the top four D. So you get a day and a half off at home to recover, and we expect to be real good in Carolina. We've been really good, I think our last tough one was in Colorado, I understood that one, and then prior to that was probably Toronto on December 1. So I like the way we're playing.” LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Latest Panthers comeback attempt comes up short, Florida falls to Blues 6-2 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/latest-panthers-comeback-attempt-comes-up-short-florida-falls-to-blues-6-2] Winners of 4 straight, Panthers to complete back-to-back set against visiting Blues [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/winners-of-4-straight-panthers-to-complete-back-to-back-set-against-visiting-blues] Three takeaways: Panthers never stopped believing, plays by Lundell and Marchand fuel epic comeback [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-panthers-never-stopped-believing-plays-by-lundell-and-marchand-fuel-epic-comeback] Comeback Cats erase 3-goal third period deficit, defeat Hurricanes in shootout [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/comeback-cats-erase-3-goal-third-period-deficit-defeat-hurricanes-in-shootout] The Hockey Show: Panthers rolling, top local broadcasters and Brad Williams talks high-flying Ducks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/the-hockey-show-panthers-rolling-top-local-broadcasters-and-brad-williams-talks-high-flying-ducks] Photo caption: Dec 20, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas (18) shoots the puck as Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) defends his net during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
