Panthers 3, Blues 1
ST. LOUIS -- Center Derek MacKenzie scored twice in the second period, leading the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
The Panthers (11-9-4) registered their first three-game winning streak of the season.
MacKenzie had only one previous two-goal game in his NHL career, on March 12, 2011, when he was playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The win allowed the Panthers to snap a six-game losing streak to St. Louis and was their first victory over the Blues since Oct. 31, 2009.
After playing nearly 28 minutes without a goal, the teams combined to score three times in a span of 34 seconds midway through the second period.
Left wing Brandon Pirri started the flurry for the Panthers when he scored on a breakaway after a poor pass from right wing Vladimir Tarasenko.
Thirteen seconds later, MacKenzie capitalized on a turnover by left winger Steve Ott in front of the St. Louis net for his second goal of the season and first in 12 games.
The Blues got one of those goals back 21 seconds later on a shot from center David Backes which deflected off the skate of defenseman Dylan Olsen and past goalie Roberto Luongo (29 saves).
MacKenzie got his second goal of the night at 16:41 of the period, also unassisted, when he intercepted a Blues pass and fired a shot past goalie Jake Allen.
MacKenzie has never scored more than nine goals in a season in his 12-year career, registering only 37 goals in 412 games prior to his two goals Tuesday.
Before scoring twice, MacKenzie had another good scoring chance when he had a shorthanded breakaway early in the second period but was denied by Allen.
Allen was replaced after the second period, having allowed three goals on 15 shots. Brian Elliott entered and stopped all eight shots he faced.
NOTES: Five players in the Blues' lineup Tuesday night were not even born when Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr, now 43, made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 1990. By the time Blues 19-year-old rookie LW Robby Fabbri was born, Jagr had 197 NHL goals. ... The Panthers inserted RW Dave Bolland and LW Shawn Thornton into their lineup, scratching RW Logan Shaw and C Nick Bjugstad, who has an upper-body injury. ... Healthy scratches for the Blues were RW Dmitij Jaskin, C Scott Gomez and D Robert Bortuzzo. ... The Panthers said D Dmitry Kulikov (lower body injury) likely will play either Thursday at Nashville or Friday at Columbus. ... The Blues will play 11 of their 16 games in December at home.