Matthew Tkachuk shines in hometown, lifts Panthers over Blues with last-second goal

ST. LOUIS — Matthew Tkachuk always seems to have a big game in his hometown.

The St. Louis native and son of Blues legend Kieth Tkachuk scored two goals to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 road victory on Thursday, Feb. 6, in the Enterprise Center.

Tkachuk’s second goal came with 12 seconds left in the third period, tipping a shot from Sam Reinhart.

”We were in the right spots defensively,” said Blues head coach Jim Montgomery. “The first shot hit the guy right in front of him. I would like Reinhardt to be hit after that, but we turned and looked for the puck. He found it and made us pay.

“You always want to get skin on the guy that shoots the puck so they can’t get another opportunity to rebound, usually at the end.”

Tkachuk extended his goals streak to five games. Reinhardt moved up to No. 3 in the NHL with 32 goals on the season, Mackie Samoskevich scored and Spencer Knight made 20 saves to help Florida win for the fourth time in five games.

The Panthers (33-20-3) maintain their lead atop of the Atlantic Division with 69 points on the season.

“That’s a team that’s won a Stanley Cup, went to the Stanley Cup Finals. They know who they are,” Montgomery said. “They know how they want to play pucks, go to the goal line, they get in on the forecheck, they get heavy, and they’re just relentless.”

Zack Bolduc had a goal and an assist and Oskar Sundqvist also scored for St. Louis. It was the first goal of 2025 for the 21-year-old center.

“I thought Bolduc was really good,” Montgomery said. “I thought he was on his toes. I thought he was aggressive. I thought he was confident with the puck.”

Joel Hofer made 31 saves and was mere seconds away from either his 11th win of the season or at least his second overtime loss.

“Hof did a good job all game,” Montgomery said. “They go hard to the net, so there’s a lot of traffic and deflections, like the Tkachuck goal on the power play.”

The free fall continues for St. Louis, who has lost six of their last seven games. The Blues host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, Feb. 8, in their final games before the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.