The Florida Panthers are back on track, and center Sam Reinhart is a big reason why.
Reinhart is expected to lead the way on Wednesday, when the Panthers play host to the Los Angeles Kings in Sunrise, Fla.
Reinhart ranks second on the Panthers with 17 goals, behind only Brad Marchand’s 19. He is also first on the team in two categories: power-play goals (five) and short-handed goals (three).
“He knows when to push on the power play,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Reinhart. “He knows how to run the penalty kill and when to take a chance. Sam is the driver on both of those units.”
Indeed, Reinhart had two goals — one on the power play and one short-handed — on Monday in Florida’s 5-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning. His effort helped the Panthers kill all five of their penalties.
The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, were struggling just two weeks ago as they endured a four-game losing streak. Since then, however, Florida has won five of six games. The Panthers also just concluded a 3-1-0 road trip.
Panthers starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been hot as he has a personal four-game win streak. For the season, he owns a 14-8-1 record with a 2.80 goals-against average.
Marchand scored twice on Nov. 6 when the Panthers beat the host Kings, 5-2. Carter Verhaeghe has 10 goals overall, but he has been hot with eight goals and eight assists in his past 10 games.
The only negative to come out of Monday’s win for the Panthers was a left-arm injury suffered by defenseman Gustav Forsling, who got hurt blocking a shot.
Meanwhile, the Kings have lost three straight games.
Goalie Anton Forsberg — who allowed five goals in that Nov. 6 game against Florida — will likely start on Wednesday. Darcy Kuemper, the Kings’ No. 1 goalie, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. He was hurt on Monday as Los Angeles lost 4-1 at the Dallas Stars.
Kuemper was injured during a collision with Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen. Kuemper, who took a forearm to the head on the play, was down on the ice for several minutes before walking to the locker room.
“I saw a player (Rantanen) come into the blue paint and run into our goaltender,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “That’s what I saw.”
Offensively, the Kings have slumped over their past three games, scoring a total of just four goals. For the season, the Kings are bottom-five in the NHL in goals scored.
Winger Adrian Kempe leads the Kings in assists (17) and points (28). He’s tied with Kevin Fiala for the team lead in goals (11).
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, a five-time All-Star, said he thought the Kings created more chances in Monday’s loss at Dallas.
Doughty also felt the Kings’ defensemen got more involved, leading to an increased number of four-men attacks.
“We tweaked a couple of things in our system, and that led to breakouts,” Doughty said. “But the bottom line is that we’re not putting pucks in the net.”
–Field Level Media
