ST. LOUIS -- Defenseman Keaton Ellerby and right wing Victor Oreskovich arrived in St. Louis from Rochester of the American Hockey League in time to join the Florida Panthers. Ellerby was called up just in case Bryan Allen couldn't play because of injury.

Oreskovich, on the other hand, was recalled to replace Michal Repik in the lineup.

It was the third game in four nights and the second in a back-to-back situation in their schedule for the Panthers and coach Pete DeBoer wanted at least one fresh body in the lineup.

``Have to go light, go to the go-to guys and Vic is bigger and stronger than Rep [Michal Repik],'' said DeBoer. ``He's a great story, getting his shot playing in his first NHL game. I coached for two years. He quit the game I recommended to Randy [GM Sexton] that we take a look at him. He came into camp and was impressive.

``I know one thing: he brings energy and speed every night.''

Just 8 ½ minutes into the game, in fact, Oreskovich, making his debut at 23 after quitting the game for two years rather than take a tryout with the Colorado Avalanche in October of 2007 because he felt he was burned out. The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder realized he was hungry to get back and DeBoer was a good conduit to this great feel-good story.

VOKOUN GETS CALL

The Panthers went back to Tomas Vokoun, 1-7-1 with a 3.65 goals-against average after Scott Clemmensen improved his record to 2-0, although his GAA is 4.16 and save percentage just .866 after stopping 42 of 47 shots in the 6-5 victory at Dallas on Friday.

``Our objective in going out and signing Scott was just this -- to have two solid goaltenders,'' DeBoer said. ``Eighty-two games is a lot and we're hoping Tomas and Scottie can give us solid goaltending every night.

``I don't like the five goals we gave up Friday, but I liked the way he battled all night. And I really liked him in the shootout when he held James Neal, Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards off the scoresheet.'' Clemmensen had a record of 35-20-5 with New Jersey last season, most of that when goaltender Martin Brodeur was out with an elbow injury.

FEELING THE BLUES

If you think the Panthers are having trouble getting out of the starting gate, look at the Blues. The Panthers came into Saturday night's meeting with just nine goals in the first period, but the Blues had only eight first-period goals. And the Panthers won that battle in St. Louis, outscoring the Blues 2-0 in the first period.

POSITIVE COMMENTS

It's always interesting to hear how others think about your team. Here's some of the compliments Blues coach Andy Murray made about a few of the Panthers:

• Murray on Steven Reinprecht's hot start and him being a better scorer than his career-best of 19 goals with Colorado in 2001-02: ``I had him right after he came out of the University of Wisconsin in 2000. He had 12 goals for us in about 60 games in 2000-01 before we went to Colorado in the Rob Blake deal. At that point, he was just trying to get his feet wet with being a professional and needing to learn the two-way game. But after seeing how deadly he and Dany Heatley were at Wisconsin, I knew he had plenty of offensive talent. More important, he showed us right away that he had some great offensive instincts. I don't know why he hasn't score more through the years.''

• Murray on Rotislav Olesz after seeing him get one goal Friday in Dallas and then win it in the shootout: ``Olesz is one of the most skilled players in the NHL. I look at him and can't for the life of me figure out why he isn't an elite player.''

• Murray on the line of Stephen Weiss, Olesz and Michael Frolov: ``Have to keep an eye on them with their skill and speed.''

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