Sam Reinhart delivered a special-teams showcase Monday night, scoring both a shorthanded and a power-play goal to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Reinhart’s night placed him firmly in franchise history. It marked the fourth time in his career he has scored both a shorthanded and a power-play goal in the same game, the most such performances by any player in Panthers history. His early strike also pushed him past Scott Mellanby for sixth place on Florida’s all-time points list.
Florida wasted little time setting the tone. Reinhart opened the scoring just 2:16 into the first period with a shorthanded goal, Florida’s fourth of the season. Moments later, the Panthers doubled the lead at 3:48 after Tampa Bay’s Yanni Gourde rang a shot off the crossbar on a golden opportunity. The puck went the other way, and Anton Lundell finished a 3-on-1 rush to make it 2-0.
Brad Marchand extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:48 of the second period, and Reinhart struck again on the power play with 1:52 remaining in the frame. Tampa Bay finally broke through late in the period when Max Crozier scored his first career NHL goal with 33 seconds left, trimming the deficit to 4-1.
The Lightning showed signs of life early in the third. J.J. Moser scored 2:11 into the period to make it 4-2, but Carter Verhaeghe quickly snuffed out the momentum. Verhaeghe buried his eighth goal in his past 10 games at 6:37, restoring Florida’s three-goal cushion and sealing the outcome.
Sergei Bobrovsky was steady in net for the Panthers, stopping 26 shots as Florida improved to 5-1-1 over its past seven games. Jonas Johansson, making his seventh straight start while Andrei Vasilevskiy remains out, finished with 19 saves for Tampa Bay. Brayden Point contributed a pair of assists for the Lightning.
The third period was not without concern for either side. Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling left the game after blocking a Nikita Kucherov shot off his arm at 3:03 and did not return. Tampa Bay leading scorer Brandon Hagel also missed the final 15-plus minutes after taking a hit from Panthers defenseman Seth Jones.
The Panthers return home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, while the Lightning will welcome the Kings to Tampa Bay on Thursday.
