51ºÚÁÏ

Jimmy Snuggerud was just happy to be back with his team.

When the rookie Blues winger joined the team on their latest road trip through Florida and Tampa Bay, Snuggerud was on his first trip since undergoing surgery on his left wrist that has kept him out all of December. Snuggerud has not played since Nov. 29 against Utah, missing the last 12 games heading into the Christmas break.

The Blues couldn't give themselves a nice Christmas present in the final game before the break, losing 4-1 to the Lightning on Monday night in Tampa.

Justin Faulk scored the only goal for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 13 saves. Pontus Holmberg, Darren Raddysh, Anthony Cirelli and Oliver Bjorkstrand each scored for the Lightning.

It took Jonatan Berggren three games in a Blues uniform to notch his first career three-point game, as he scored once and had two assists during a 6-2 win Saturday night over the Panthers.

The Blues claimed Berggren off waivers last week from Detroit, where he had eight multi-point games with the Red Wings in his career but never a three-point night. Berggren has fit in nicely within a Blues forward group that is missing five players due to injury.

SUNRISE, Fla. — Might there be even more gray area in an already Methuselah-tinted part of the NHL rulebook?

During the Blues’ 6-2 win over the Panthers on Saturday night, coach Jim Montgomery unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference on Florida’s first goal of the evening. AJ Greer scored around the crease but did so after both he and teammate Seth Jones made contact with Blues goaltender Joel Hofer in the crease.

SUNRISE, Fla. — For a while, it looked like the little things would carry the Blues past the Panthers on Saturday night.

The intersection of puck and stick on a deflection by Jake Neighbours. The fragments of ice seen through Daniil Tarasov’s glove that separated the puck from the goal line. The blinks remaining in the second period when Justin Faulk scored with 0.8 seconds left.