Drew Bannister outlined a number of areas the Blues had to get better at following the St. Louis Blues interim coach's first loss on Tuesday. Three keys in Blues' 4-1 win against Panthers (12-21-23) The Tampa Bay Lightning had their way with the Blues on Tuesday in their 6-1 win, including living in the Blues' kitchen, winning a lot of the board battles, taking advantage of a team not winning to do what it takes in their own zone to win. The Blues outlined those things and reversed fortune against the defending Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers on Thursday, another team that likes to live in your crease if you allow them to and whip pucks around the offensive zone, which means plenty of shot volume. The Blues were able to rectify those deficiencies and in turn, do the sacrifices necessary in the offensive zone on Thursday and it led to a 4-1 Blues win against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena. Let's look at the three keys as to why the Blues (16-15-1) were able to prevail: 1. Top line performed like one -- We knew Pavel Buchnevich would have a response after being benched Tuesday in the third period, and he responded accordingly, but the forward's linemates came along for the ride. Buchnevich, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou all brought the offensive flare on this night, combining for eight points, with Buchnevich (two goals, one assist) and Thomas (three assists) leading the way, and Kyrou had a goal and an assist. That trio, when on, cam do some great things on offense, and particularly in the second period, they brought the heat putting the Blues ahead 2-0 with two goals, and it could have been a third, but a Buchnevich goal was wiped out for an offside challenge when Kyrou just entered the zone dropping a puck off, or else it could have been a greater night. 2. Willingness to go to the front of the net -- The Blues made it a point to get to the front of the net and try to make Sergei Bobrovsky's life miserable. There was plenty of net front presence there with a willingness to remain there, especially when defensemen were putting pucks towards the net. Alexey Toropchenko benefitted from getting to the net when he redirected Marco Scandella's shot from the left point to give the Blues a 3-1 lead in the second period. Oskar Sundqvist, Brayden Schenn, Jake Neighbours, Brandon Saad, Kasperi Kapanen and Kevin Hayes were also making it a point to get to the front of the net, and it generated plenty of danger from the Blues' perspective despite getting just 24 shots for the game. With that kind of traffic, it will create more loose pucks. 3. Keeping your crease relatively clean -- The Blues got bullied on Tuesday, and they had no answer for it. The Lightning were living in the slot, at the net front and generated a good portion of their offense from taking advantage of the Blues' vulnerabilities in those areas. Not on Thursday. The Blues kept the kitchen pretty clean in front of goalie Joel Hofer, who despite making 37 saves, was pretty much able to see the puck cleanly and make the saves he had to make. I thought two defensemen exceptional in this area on Thursday were Colton Parayko and Torey Krug, who each made it a point to not only kill a number of plays in the d-zone, but also box out accordingly. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAyODg2ODQ2NzgxMzM0NTQw/img_6511.jpg]
