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During Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to the Panthers, the Blues’ most dangerous player was unexpected but welcomed: Zack Bolduc.

He had a goal and an assist, factoring on both St. Louis goals against Florida, his first multipoint game since Nov. 25. That was Jim Montgomery’s first game as the Blues head coach, when Bolduc scored twice against the Rangers.

“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. Could have had two or three goals, and he made a couple nice passes as well.�

Bolduc had four shot attempts Thursday, second behind only Dylan Holloway’s five among Blues players. But no Blue had more than Bolduc’s three shots on goal, three scoring chances, two high-danger chances and 0.57 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.

When Bolduc was on the ice at 5 on 5, the Blues outshot the Panthers 5-4 and outscored them 1-0.

“I don’t want to talk too much about me, but I thought I played well,� Bolduc said after the game. “Skating was good, my linemates played well, too. … You’ve got to play a full game. It’s important to be good defensively and also you always want to create offense and create chances for you and your teammates. I don’t want to talk too much about me, I think we battled well tonight, but we’ve got to find a way to get those two points.�

Bolduc scored in the first period, on a backhand shot off a rebound from a Ryan Suter point shot. Bolduc camped out in the slot, and then flipped a shot past Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight. It was Bolduc’s first goal since Dec. 27, against Nashville.

Bolduc also created a chance for Oskar Sundqvist by forcing a turnover at the blue line, then making a play while falling to get the puck to Sundqvist on the rush. Bolduc created a breakaway for himself in the second period with a play up the boards to Mathieu Joseph, then cut to the net. The roles were reversed later in the second.

“It was his pressure on the puck without it, and it was his winning one on one battles, and it was him attacking the net,� Montgomery said. “The goal, he’s standing there in an area where goals are scored. If he goes behind the net when the puck goes (low to high), he’s not in a position to get that rebound. And he’s screening. His habits and details were really good. Because of that, he had other opportunities.�

Bolduc has had an up and down season during his first full campaign in the NHL.

He was not in the lineup on opening day in Seattle, then played a limited role under former coach Drew Bannister. He averaged 11:26 of ice time and was healthy scratched six times.

Under Montgomery, Bolduc seemed to get a fresh start. He played in 18 straight games for Montgomery before he was taken out of the lineup for four games in January. His 14:28 of ice time was the fifth time under Montgomery that Bolduc has played more than 14 minutes, and he’s averaging about a minute more of ice time under Montgomery than under Bannister.

“It’s all preparation,� Montgomery said. “Your mindset going into games, whether it’s ‘I’m not going to be denied,’ or couple things. With ‘Boldy,’ we talk to him about not falling below the puck, staying above it. That’s all we talk to him about, to simplify and get more consistent. And attacking inside the dots offensively.�

Personnel updates

Defenseman Tyler Tucker did not practice Friday and will not play Saturday night against the Blackhawks because of an upper-body injury. Montgomery said Tucker should be ready “when we get back from break. That’s the expectation. But I think we were a little too hopeful early on.�

Tucker was hurt Sunday in Utah when he went crashing into the boards in the third period and missed games this week against Edmonton and Florida.

Forward Alexandre Texier could return for the Blues on Saturday as he recovers from an illness. Texier missed Thursday’s game against the Panthers because he was sick.

Saturday will be Texier’s third day of the illness, and Montgomery said that’s when Colton Parayko and Mathieu Joseph felt better in their bouts of sickness.

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Victory+, the video streaming service that carried several Blues exhibition games last fall, is going to pick up three of the club’s regular-season contests.

The parties said Friday that Victory+ will show the games that previously had been announced as moving from Blues cable partner FanDuel ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Network to over-the-air television. All three will be on Matrix Midwest and the first two also on KMOV (Channel 4). Matrix, like KMOV, is owned by Gray Media and is available throughout the area on Channel 32 as well as being on Spectrum (Charter) cable at Channel 6. Those games also will be carried on Gray stations throughout the region plus one in Columbia, Mo., that has a different owner.

Victory+ will simulcast the TV coverage of the three contests — Feb. 22 vs. Winnipeg, March 8 at Los Angeles and March 25 vs. Montreal — and and the streaming access will be available free of charge throughout the Blues’ TV region. There is no fee to download the Victory+ app, which also is available to subscribers to Roku, Apple iOS, Apple TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TV and Vizio.

Outside the Blues’ TV coverage territory the games will be available through the ESPN+ streaming option. FanDuel will produce the telecasts and use its announcers (John Kelly on play-by-play, Jamie Rivers on analysis) on these games, but it will not simulcast them on TV or via streaming.

Victory+ is carrying two NHL teams this season, the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks, and derives its revenue through advertising.

“Our organizational goal in choosing broadcast partners for these games was to leverage available options — both innovative and traditional — to reach as big and broad an audience of current and future Blues fans as possible,� Blues president and CEO of business operations Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “Victory+ showed during our preseason that they can deliver a high-quality streaming product that was accessible and popular among Blues fans. Pairing their direct-to-consumer channel with Gray Media’s multi-market network of over-the-air stations for these games will enable us to reach more in-market fans than ever before and learn valuable insights about their viewing preferences.�

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In a season peppered and checkered, spotted and dotted with letdowns, Thursday night might have provided the most painful torture for the Blues.

The agony was measured in decimals; the disappointment, in shinpads.

When Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk deflected Sam Reinhart’s shot with 11.8 seconds remaining into the net, he handed his hometown team a 3-2 loss that erased whatever progress the Blues had built in pushing the defending Stanley Cup champions to the edge. The Blues were one shift away from forcing overtime for the second time against the Panthers this season, from picking up points in a third straight game.

Instead, zero.

“You’ve got to get a point out of it,� Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “That’s a team that’s won the Stanley Cup, went to the Stanley Cup Final, they know who they are. 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. It’s over and over and over. Really good at it. We have to establish that kind of regularity with our identity.�

On the decisive shift of the game, it was Florida’s best against St. Louis’ best.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice loaded up a line with Aleksander Barkov, Tkachuk and Reinhart. Montgomery countered with Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich. If the game was going to be decided in regulation, it was going to be with each team’s most talented players on the ice.

Barkov won a neutral-zone faceoff. Gustav Forsling fired a shot wide of goalie Joel Hofer. Barkov shielded the puck from Thomas in the corner and eventually found Reinhart in the slot. Kyrou dipped into the circle from his position closer to the blue line to try and disrupt the pass, but it slipped through to Reinhart.

Reinhart’s initial shot glanced off Colton Parayko’s shinpad. Then off Cam Fowler’s. As Reinhart gathered for another chance, Parayko was sliding past having already blocked a shot and Kyrou was behind after trying to tie up his stick on the first shot. Reinhart collected the puck, and Tkachuk tipped it under Hofer’s right arm for his second goal of the night.

“We were in the right spots defensively,� Montgomery said. “The first shot hit the guy right in front of him. I would like Reinhart to be hit after that, but we turned and looked for the puck. He found it, and made us pay. It’s easy for me to say in the heat of the moment, but you always want to skin on the guy that’s shooting the puck so that he can’t get another opportunity or rebound.�

Hofer: “That was a tough play. Hit a couple shinpads and went to his stick, but I’ve got to make a save.�

The goal knifed any chances the Blues had at emerging with at least one point on Thursday. It was another chance that slipped past them.

On Tuesday, the Blues held a third-period lead vs. the Oilers, but Leon Draisaitl scored the game-tying goal with the extra attacker, and then Connor McDavid set up the game-winning goal in overtime. On Thursday, the Blues scored first courtesy of Zack Bolduc, and then tied the game at 2 thanks to an Oskar Sundqvist second-period, power-play goal. Despite mustering only three shots on goal in the third period, the Blues largely kept Florida to the perimeter in their own zone to limit dangerous chances.

In consecutive games, the Blues made arguments for two points vs. Edmonton, and one point vs. Florida. In both cases, the two Stanley Cup Finalists from last season denied their claims.

“We’re playing two of the best teams in the league, and I think we’re playing two good hockey games against them,� Sundqvist said. “If we come out of that second period a goal or two up, it can be a whole different game. We take with us that we were playing two really good hockey teams, and we’re right there. We just need that last percent to tip it over to wins.�

The Blues have been outscored in the final five minutes of the third period 25-15.

Thursday was the fourth time they allowed the game-winning goal in the final five minutes of regulation, and first since Montgomery’s Bruins broke Blues hearts on Nov. 12 with 1:47 remaining. The Blues have allowed four game-tying goals in that timeframe, including Draisaitl’s on Tuesday and Pavel Dorofeyev’s in Vegas almost three weeks ago. Ten of the goals allowed have been empty-netters that sealed St. Louis losses.

Of the Blues’ minus-18 goal margin, more than half of it can be chalked up to the final five minutes of the third period. Since Montgomery took over in late November, the Blues are the only team in the NHL that has a negative goal margin against an empty net (outscored 5-4).

They had the first three shots of the game (including Bolduc’s goal) but the Panthers responded with the next 10 shots on goal (including Mackie Samoskevich’s goal). Florida owned a 16-10 edge in shots in the first period, and took a 2-1 lead into first intermission.

But St. Louis — behind better puck management and more physicality, according to Montgomery — got itself back into the game in the second period. Buchnevich and Thomas created more chances, but couldn’t finish. Bolduc was turned away on a breakaway.

“We had our chances to score some goals and make the difference,� Bolduc said. “But sometimes, it’s like this.�

With Vancouver’s overtime win over San Jose on Thursday night, the Blues’ empty night moved them eight points back of the Canucks for the final wild- card playoff spot in the Western Conference, and St. Louis has played one more game than the Canucks.

By points percentage, the Blues have the eighth-worst record in the NHL, and are guaranteed to have a record below .500 at the 4 Nations tournament break. They hosts Chicago on Saturday night before entering the two-week break.

“I think we played a good game overall, especially in the second period,� Sundqvist said. “I feel like we should have come out of that period one or two goals up. That’s hockey. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t.�

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Photos: Blues fall to Florida Panthers 3-2 after last-minute Panthers goal

Panthers 3, Blues 2

Florida 2 0 1 — 3

St. Louis 1 1 0 — 2

First Period—1, St. Louis, Bolduc 6 (Toropchenko, Suter), 3:31. 2, Florida, Samoskevich 8 (Bennett, Tkachuk), 7:09. 3, Florida, Tkachuk 20 (Ekblad, Barkov), 16:54 (pp). ±Ê±ð²Ô²¹±ô³Ù¾±±ð²õ—Neighbours, STL (Fighting), 0:02; Bennett, FLA (Fighting), 0:02; Buchnevich, STL (Holding), 16:30.

Second Period—4, St. Louis, Sundqvist 4 (Bolduc, Thomas), 5:18 (pp). ±Ê±ð²Ô²¹±ô³Ù¾±±ð²õ—Luostarinen, FLA (Interference), 4:46; Bennett, FLA (Tripping), 14:07.

Third Period—5, Florida, Reinhart 32 (Forsling, Barkov), 19:48. ±Ê±ð²Ô²¹±ô³Ù¾±±ð²õ—None.

Shots on Goal—Florida 16-10-8—34. St. Louis 10-9-2—21.

Power-play opportunities—Florida 1 of 1; St. Louis 1 of 2.

³Ò´Ç²¹±ô¾±±ð²õ—Florida, Knight 11-8-1 (21 shots-20 saves). St. Louis, Hofer 10-7-1 (34-31).

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