Panthers Down Blues, Wild Beat Blackhawks

By ESPN

Roberto Luongo finally tied Curtis Joseph for fourth place on the NHL career victory list.

Luongo reached 454 victories, making 37 saves to help the Florida Panthers beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Thursday night.

The 38-year-old Luongo was playing his first home game since a Feb. 28 victory over Carolina. He didn't play after March 2 last season because of recurring hip issues.

"It took a long time. I was sitting on it for a while," Luongo said. "Obviously, I wanted to get back in there and get that one behind me. I was happy that I was able to string a good game together and get the win and the two points."

Vincent Trocheck scored the go-ahead goal, Ian McCoshen had his first NHL goal, and Jared McCann, Aaron Ekblad and Nick Bjugstad also connected for Florida.

The 13 goals scored by the Panthers are the most in the first three games to open the season in franchise history. The Panthers scored 11 goals to open the 2015-16 season.

"I think we have a little bit of swagger right now, a little bit of confidence that even when we go down a goal or two, we know that we have the firepower to answer right back," Trocheck said. "That's going to be huge for us going forward."

Paul Stastny and Vince Dunn -- also with his first career goal -- countered for St. Louis. Jake Allen stopped 33 shots in the Blues' first loss in five games this season.

Trocheck put the Panthers ahead 2-1 with a short-handed goal at 2:45 of the second period. Trocheck skated in on a breakaway and shot over Allen's glove. It was the first time the Blues trailed since the first period in their opener at Pittsburgh.

McCann made it 3-1 on a power play at 7:42 of the second, redirecting Radim Vrbata's shot.

"We never should have let them score a short-handed goal on our power play," Stastny said. "That makes it 1-1 when we had a chance to go ahead 2-0."

Ekblad gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead at 3:16 of the third when he took a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau in front and fired it past Allen. Bjugstad scored with 5:58 left made it 5-1.

"We knew we'd have to play a strong, smart game and we didn't do that," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "That first goal, then we give them a shorty, then give them power plays. That's a bad recipe against a good team."

Dunn completed the scoring.

Midway through the second period, the Blues had a potential goal by Brayden Schenn waved off because of a high stick.

The Blues took a 1-0 lead in the second on a power-play wraparound goal by Stastny, who poked the puck past Luongo's right skate into the corner of the net at 1:14. McCoshen, playing his sixth NHL game, tied it 12 seconds later.

"Pretty much disbelief. Just tried to throw a puck on net," McCoshen said. "Obviously, it's surreal scoring your first NHL goal."

Wild 5, Blackhawks 2

Chris Stewart and the injury-depleted Minnesota Wild got the breaks they needed for their first victory of the season.

Stewart broke a tie midway through the third period with the first of his two goals and the Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Thursday night.

Jason Zucker had a goal and an assist, and Devan Dubnyk made 36 saves to help the Wild (1-1-1) hand Chicago (3-1-1) its first regulation loss.

Stewart tapped Zucker's feed past Corey Crawford from the doorstep with 9:28 left in the third to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead on a disputed play.

Stewart and Zucker broke in 2-on-1 against Duncan Keith after fellow defenseman Brent Seabrook fell down. The goal withstood a video review after the Blackhawks challenged Zucker was offside.

The NHL ruled that Seabrook accidentally kicked the puck away from Zucker while tumbling, causing it "to enter the attacking zone" a split second after the Minnesota forward crossed the blue line.

"I knew that he kicked it," Zucker said. "I don't think I ever touched the puck until it was in the zone. It's tough to know whether that's considered possession or not. Glad it went our way."

Zucker added a power-play goal with 7:31 to go on the delay-of-game penalty that resulted from the failed Chicago challenge. He banged the puck in from behind the net off Crawford's skate.

"Then come back with that power play and make them pay," said Stewart, who has four goals in three games.

Minnesota lost Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Marcus Foligno to undisclosed injuries and finished with eight forwards. Coach Bruce Boudreau thought none of the three would play in the Wild's home opener Saturday night.

Minnesota already was skating without Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund.

"Losing Charlie and Nino and not having Zach and Mikael, it's tough," Zucker said. "A gutsy win for us. It was digging down deep and making sure we got the two points."

Stewart scored into an empty net with 4:04 remaining to make it 4-1. Mikko Koivu added another empty-netter with 2:01 left.

Minnesota's Eric Staal opened the scoring with 34.5 seconds left in the second. Chicago's Ryan Hartman connected midway through the third period to tie it at 1.

Jonathan Toews' goal in the final minute completed the scoring.

Crawford stopped 29 shots. Chicago entered having outscored its opponents 21-7 in four games.

Seabrook took the blame for the go-ahead goal despite the unusual call.

"I should have made a better play," he said.

Coach Joel Quenneville didn't accept the ruling, saying the "one play" cost his team.

"I still don't think (the goal) should have went in," Quenneville said. "(Zucker ) didn't carry it in. He didn't have possession so I disagree with that ruling."

Neither team had many chances in the scoreless first period as the Blackhawks failed to connect in the opening frame for the first time in five games. Chicago has outscored opponents 11-1 in the first.

"We played tight,' Boudreau said. "If they had one chance in the first period, that's what they had."

Crawford made point-blank saves on Zucker and Coyle less than a minute apart early in the second. The Blackhawks dominated late in the period, but misfired on prime chances or were stopped by Dubnyk.

Staal scored with 34.5 seconds left in the second to make it 1-0 as Minnesota capitalized on a turnover and coverage mistake by 21-year-old Chicago defenseman Gustav Forsling.

Forsling lost the puck just to Coyle just inside the Chicago blue line, then was caught flat-footed as Staal broke in alone down the left side of the slot. After taking Coyle's cross-ice feed, Staal beat Crawford on the short side.

Hartman tied it 1 at 8:21 of the third, when he tucked in a rebound of Patrick Kane's shot from the left point past Dubnyk's left pad.

Thursday, October 12 Scoreboard

Tampa Bay 5, Pittsburgh 4

Florida 5, St. Louis 2

Nashville 4, Dallas 1

Minnesota 5, Chicago 2

Winnipeg 4, Vancouver 2

Detroit 4, Arizona 2

San Jose 3, Buffalo 2

Friday, October 13 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at New Jersey, 6 p.m.

New York Rangers at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Anaheim at Colorado, 8 p.m.

Ottawa at Calgary, 8 p.m.

Detroit at Vegas, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

Toronto at Montreal, 6 p.m.

St. Louis at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.

New Jersey at New York Rangers, 6 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Florida at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Carolina at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.

Colorado at Dallas, 7 p.m.

Columbus at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Nashville at Chicago, 7:30 p.m.

Boston at Arizona, 8 p.m.

Ottawa at Edmonton, 9 p.m.

Calgary at Vancouver, 9 p.m.

Buffalo at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.

New York Islanders at San Jose, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 15 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Vegas, 6 p.m.

Buffalo at Anaheim, 8 p.m.

New York Islanders at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.