Reinhart's first goal of Stanley Cup Final a big one in Panthers' Game 3 rout of Oilers
Forget what the game log says. Monday night was the true return of Florida Panthers star Sam Reinhart.
Reinhart scored a goal – his first in six games — and set up another with a filthy pass to Aaron Ekblad in Monday's 6-1 Panthers win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
For the Panthers' regular-season leader in goals, it was his best game since suffering an apparent knee injury early in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Reinhart went top shelf three minutes into the second period to beat Stuart Skinner – the same netminder he victimized in Game 7 nearly a year ago — to jumpstart a dominant closing half of an overwhelming Panthers performance.
'The Sam Reinhart goal was the inflection point,' said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who won his 1,000th NHL game (combining the regular season and postseason) Monday.
'2-1, especially with what both teams had been through in the first two, there was no [safe] lead at that point, and Sam's goal was very important to us.'
In the micro sense, Maurice of course is correct.
Reinhart's goal gave the Panthers much-needed breathing room in the second period, and the Oilers didn't respond well.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblach said his team 'unraveled' Monday, and the stat sheet backed that up.
Edmonton racked up a staggering 85 penalty minutes and a suspension for Evander Kane isn't out of the question after his inexcusable and dangerous stick found Carter Verhaeghe's neck when the Panthers forward was defenseless on the ice.
But from a wider lens, Reinhart's breakout game is even worse news for Edmonton.
After two overtime games in Alberta, the Panthers looked like far and away the better team Monday.
'We're a very deep team,' said forward Brad Marchand, who scored for the third time in as many SCF games Monday. 'Not just offensively. A lot of guys play a 200-foot game. That's one of our strengths.'
Florida is strongest when Reinhart is at his best. And Monday's performance was huge given his uncharacteristic couple of weeks. Reinhart has been largely a non-factor since the dirty hit laid on him by Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Reinhart missed two games after Aho's hip check to his knee and struggled to find his form upon his return. He was minus-3 in the first two games of this series with zero points in nearly 60 minutes of ice time.
Monday was the ultimate reversal.
His goal – set up by Verhaeghe just 80 seconds after Corey Perry cut a two-goal Florida lead in half – was great.
His assist on Aaron Ekblad's third-period power play goal was even better.
Reinhart went no-look behind his back, a move that fooled Skinner so utterly that Ekblad couldn't have missed the net if he tried.
But it wasn't just offense for Reinhart, the two-way star who finished second in the Selke Trophy voting behind teammate Aleskander Barkov.
Reinhart led all Panthers with three blocked shots Monday.
'I think you guys have seen it enough,' Reinhart said of Florida's style of play. 'We try to play the same very night and keep it as simple as possible.
'We're trying to take away some time and space.'
Time and space? Luxuries Edmonton no longer can afford after a second straight loss.
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