Panthers aim to bounce back as they host Blues

The Florida Panthers are hoping some time home for the holidays reignites their winning ways.

The Panthers face the St. Louis Blues in Sunrise, Fla., on Thursday after a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday. Florida finished a disappointing five-game road trip with three losses in the final four outings.

The Panthers remain third in the Atlantic Division with games against the Blues and Vegas Golden Knights on the schedule before the holiday break.

"It's time to get back home, reenergize and get ready for two big ones before Christmas," said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who scored Florida's lone goal in Calgary and leads the team with 18 tallies.

In their lone victory during their struggles, the Panthers scored five times to defeat the Edmonton Oilers. Florida managed only one goal in total during the three defeats.

The Panthers outshot the opposition by a 94-65 margin in that trio of losses but have been struggling to light the lamp.

"I think we've left some out there," Reinhart said. "We see some success. We see when we have the puck we're playing well."

The positive to take from the Calgary clash was scoring a power-play goal for the second consecutive outing, but the Panthers are having a tough time consistently drumming up a complete effort.

"We're still learning how to do it," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "We've started to work pretty well in offensive zone time, a good thing. We got a little behind (in Calgary). I think for the fifth game of a trip, the first 40 minutes we were really happy with. A short-handed goal sets you back. It just does. Then we're chasing it after that."

The Blues also head into Thursday's meeting after a loss. After winning their first two games with interim coach Drew Bannister at the helm following the firing of Craig Berube, the Blues opened a road trip against the Sunshine State clubs on the receiving end of a 6-1 thumping at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

St. Louis remains just outside a wild-card playoff position, but it is well aware the loss was a step backward.

"It was a poor start, and we weren't able to get any kind of forecheck," Bannister said. "I think we had 10-13 turnovers in the (defensive) zone and 10 turnovers in the offensive zone. Biggest thing that stuck out to me is that it was too easy to get pucks to our net. We weren't willing to get into shooting lanes. We didn't get sticks into shooting lanes."

The Blues trailed 6-0 before a late power-play goal by Justin Faulk prevented the shutout. The Lightning earned their advantage by scoring a trio of first-period goals while outshooting the Blues 14-5 in the frame.

"You've got to find a way to tilt the ice and stop the bleeding early, and we weren't able to do that," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "Yeah we had some chances, but we only had (18) shots going into the third period."

The Blues have another trend to change. St. Louis has a 6-10-1 road record this season, and No. 1 goaltender Jordan Binnington has struggled away from home.

Binnington, who was pulled just past the midway point of the Lightning game after surrendering five goals on 23 shots, has won only three of 12 road starts.

—Field Level Media