Cole Reinhardt opened the scoring and potted the game-winning goal with 1:50 remaining in regulation to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
With the Panthers applying heavy pressure in the offensive zone, Donovan Sebrango backhanded the around the boards to Luke Kunin, who centered back out to Reinhardt, and he snapped off a shot that beat retiring Jonathan Quick from the left circle to give the Panthers their 39th win of this lost, injury-ravaged campaign.
Reinhardt got his first of the night 9:35 into the tilt when he buried the rebound of Tobias Björnfot’s backhander after the defenseman quickly exhanged passes with Vinnie Hinostroza on the rush.
After blocking Braden Schneider’s shot in the defensive zone, Mackie Samoskevich caught up to the puck as it crossed the New York blue line and sniped Quick top-shelf for his 12th of the year to put the Panthers up by two, just 1:56 after Reinhardt’s opener. That’s goals in back-to-back games for Samoskevich, who is finishing his sophomore season strong.
The Rangers countered following an offensive zone face-off to halve the deficit. Noah Laba won the draw from Kunin and moved the puck over to Matthew Robertson at the left point. Robertson’s wrister solved Daniil Tarasov cleanly with Jaroslav Chmelar providing a helpful screen at the 15:19 mark.
New Yok would even it up with 2:40 left in the middle frame after a turnover by A.J. Greer sent Mika Zibanejad the other way. Zibanejad dished off to Alexis Lafrenière and he pulled up and centered to Adam Fox, who put a shot on goal that Tarasov stopped, only to see the rebound deflect off of Gabe Perreault and into the back of the net.
Tarasov would come up large in the third period, finishing with 13 saves, to set the stage for Reinhardt’s late-game heroics.
After following up the victory in Toronto with another positive result, the Panthers will finish the season no worse than NHL .500. Reinhardt’s second goal made a loser of Quick in his final NHL start and kept the Rangers from completing a season-series sweep of the Cats. Florida will finish up at home against the Detroit Red Wings, who will also miss the postseason, on Wednesday night.
The Five Hole
- First Star Cole Reinhardt extended his goal-scoring streak to three games and delivered the first brace of his NHL career. Reinhardt has surprisingly amassed five goals and one assist in 14 games since debuting with the Panthers on March 15, in a 6-2 loss to Seattle.
- Mackie Samoskevich’s marker allowed him to match the 31 points he put up last season as a rookie. Samoskevich has scored six times in the last nine games to double his goal output.
- Daniil Tarasov stopped 24 of 26 shots faced and won consecutive starts for the first time since late January when he beat the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks on the road.
- Rookie defenseman Marek Alscher continues to impress. Alscher played a team-high 22:04 in his third big-league game and was credited with two shots, two blocks and three hits.
- Donovan Sebrango has assists in three of the last four games. Sebrango has one last chance to get his first NHL goal this season. Watch out, Red Wings!
Stat Card
