Yahoo Sports Breaking down Sam Reinhart’s overtime goal in Florida Panthers’ Game 4 win over Rangers
Sam Reinhart’s game-winning, power-play goal in the Florida Panthers’ 3-2 overtime win over the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday was “about as well executed” as possible, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
It started with a Reinhart faceoff win to the right of the net that got the puck to defenseman Brandon Montour at the point. Montour then sent the puck to Carter Verhaeghe on his left... who sent the puck down the boards to Reinhart ... who quickly snapped the puck back to Verhaeghe up top... who then sent it back to Montour.
The defenseman then gave the puck to Matthew Tkachuk above the right faceoff circle... who sent the puck back to Montour... who sent the puck to Aleksander Barkov just next to the net ... who finally gave the puck to Reinhart in the slot for his one-timer that beat Igor Shesterkin.
Eight passes, all perfectly executed, in a span of 13 seconds.
“That was just a bunch of elite guys with phenomenal hands,” Maurice said.
THE PANTHERS CALLED GAME ️
Sam Reinhart is the hero for the home team as he scores the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner in Game 4. pic.twitter.com/0kLuyFKtuV— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 29, 2024
That goal, Reinhart’s eighth of the playoffs which came 1:12 into overtime, tied the Eastern Conference final at two games apiece as the best-of-7 series shifts back to New York. The Panthers and Rangers play Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, with puck drop scheduled for 8 p.m.
It was the fastest goal from the start of an overtime period in franchise playoff history, surpassing the previous mark of 1:51 by Tkachuk in Game 2 of last postseason’s Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes. That Tkachuk goal, coincidentally, is the only other overtime-winning power-play goal in the playoffs in franchise history.
It was also Reinhart’s second career game-winning playoff goal in overtime. His first was in Game 3 of Florida’s second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs last postseason. Reinhart is one of three players in Panthers history with multiple overtime goals in the playoffs, joining teammates Verhaeghe (five) and Tkachuk (three).
“I saw him wide open there, and I was pretty confident he was putting that one in,” Verhaeghe said. “He has an awesome shot and obviously he made no mistake on that one, and it was awesome.”
More notable stats from Game 4
▪ Tkachuk’s primary assist on Verhaeghe’s second-period power-play goal was his 14th assist of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s the most in a single postseason in franchise history, surpassing Tkachuk’s club record of 13 from last postseason.
▪ Sergei Bobrovsky earned his 17th career playoff overtime win and his 39th career NHL playoff win. The 17 career playoff overtime wins are fourth-most in NHL history, behind only Patrick Roy (40), Ed Balfour (22) and Grant Fuhr (18). The 39 overall playoff wins tie Nikolai Khabibulin for the third-most by a Russian-born goaltender behind only Andrei Vasilevskiy (66) and Evgeni Nabokov (42).
Bobrovsky now holds a 12-2 record with the Panthers in playoff games that go to overtime and is 17-6 in his career overall.
▪ The 2024 Eastern Conference final marked the third time in NHL history where three consecutive contests during a round before the Stanley Cup Finals required overtime. The others: The 2001 Western Conference final between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues (Game 3-5) as well as the 1933 semifinals between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs (Game 1-3). Tkachuk’s father, Keith, skated in all three contests with St. Louis during the 2001 series.
