Brady Tkachuk Scores as Panthers Beat Blues 4-1 After St. Louis Honors Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk

Brady Tkachuk scored the opening goal, his brother Matthew Tkachuk picked up an assist on it, and the Florida Panthers beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Saturday night at Enterprise Center, hours after the Blues honored the brothers' father, Hockey Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, in a pregame ceremony.

Dmitry Kulikov, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 of 24 shots. The win was the Panthers' third in a row and moved them to 12-7-2. Dylan Holloway scored a late power-play goal for St. Louis, which fell to 9-9-2.

A family night in St. Louis

The Blues recognized Keith Tkachuk before the game for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, which took place last weekend. He played nine of his 18 NHL seasons with St. Louis, according to NHL.com, and finished his career there. His sons, who grew up in the St. Louis area, were playing together in their hometown for the first time in the NHL, and they used two of their father's old sticks during a ceremonial puck drop, according to the Associated Press game story published by ESPN.

Matthew Tkachuk described the week as a milestone for the family. "This whole week's been incredible for him and our whole family, and this is kind of just the icing on the cake I guess," he said, according to NHL.com.

How the goals came

Florida scored twice in a span of 77 seconds in the first period. A too-many-men penalty on St. Louis put the Panthers on the power play, and Matthew Tkachuk drew a high-sticking call that gave Florida a two-man advantage. Both brothers stayed on the ice for more than three minutes during the overlapping penalties, and Brady Tkachuk beat Blues goalie Joel Hofer on the glove side at 5:12 for his 11th goal of the season, with assists to Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk.

At 6:29, Kulikov's slap shot from the point deflected off Blues defenseman Colton Parayko and slipped between Hofer's legs. It was the veteran defenseman's first goal of the season, with assists from Sam Bennett and Sandis Vilmanis.

Lundell made it 3-0 at 3:28 of the second period, putting in a rebound of a Brady Tkachuk shot. Reinhart closed the Florida scoring at 7:38 of the third, stealing the puck in the offensive zone and weaving between three defenders before beating Hofer for his 12th goal. Holloway spoiled Markstrom's shutout bid with a power-play goal at 17:54, with 2:06 left in regulation, assisted by Dalibor Dvorsky and Logan Mailloux.

The scoring summary from the ESPN game data:

Reinhart, speaking to NHL.com, pointed to the early lead as a priority. "I think (we needed) to come out to a good start; there hasn't been too many early leads," he said, adding, "It's a little bit more special with the dads here."

Markstrom and a physical road effort

Markstrom finished with a .958 save percentage, turning away all 18 even-strength shots he faced and five of six on the penalty kill. Coach Paul Maurice offered little criticism afterward. "I kind of liked all parts of (the game)," Maurice said, according to NHL.com. "I've no complaints tonight."

Florida outshot St. Louis 28-24 and was the more physical team, credited with 31 hits to the Blues' 16 and 14 blocked shots. Brady Tkachuk led all players with six hits and Vilmanis had five. The Panthers went 1 for 2 on the power play, and St. Louis was 1 for 3. The Blues won 52.7 percent of the faceoffs. Hofer made 24 saves.

Seth Jones led all Florida skaters with 22:30 of ice time, and the defense pairings carried a heavy load on the penalty kill, with Gustav Forsling logging 4:38 shorthanded and Aaron Ekblad 3:35. Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen each killed penalties for more than four and a half minutes among the forwards.

Streaks and milestones

NHL.com noted several personal runs that continued Saturday:

• Matthew Tkachuk extended his assist streak to seven games, with nine assists during that stretch. He has 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 22 career games against St. Louis.
• Brady Tkachuk has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past seven games, and the brothers have both registered a point on the same goal 17 times this season.
• Reinhart now has 335 goals and 366 assists in his NHL career, a total of 701 points.
• Lundell has five points (three goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak.

The Panthers have outscored opponents 13-6 during their three-game winning streak, which began with a 4-1 win over Columbus on Nov. 10 and continued with a 5-4 comeback against Detroit on Nov. 12, when Florida rallied from a 4-1 deficit. Florida remains without captain Aleksander Barkov and forward Brad Marchand, both listed on injured reserve on ESPN's injury report.

The view from St. Louis

The Blues had won two straight entering the night, including a 1-0 shootout win over Utah on Thursday, but their offense has stalled. St. Louis has scored one goal or fewer in seven of its 20 games, including six of its past 10, according to NHL.com. Holloway's goal kept the Blues from being shut out in regulation for a second straight game.

"We're getting some looks; we're just not finding the back of the net," Blues captain Robert Thomas said, according to NHL.com. Forward Jake Neighbours put some of the blame on himself: "I can speak for myself, I don't think I've been good enough and it trickles down."

St. Louis also lost defenseman Philip Broberg, who left at 10:30 of the third period with a lower-body injury that coach Jim Montgomery described as precautionary, NHL.com reported. A crowd of 18,096 attended.

What's next

The Panthers finish their weekend back-to-back on Sunday night at Dallas. The Blues host Anaheim on Tuesday. Florida and St. Louis meet again on Dec. 21 in Sunrise, the second and final game of their season series.