Reinhart scores twice, Bruins win on last second OT goal

The Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins met for a Saturday matinee in Sunrise, Florida.

In the third of four matchups this season, and without defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the Panthers put up a controlled effort, but Boston capitalized more on their opportunities as they came up on the winning end scoring with less than two seconds left in overtime to win it by a final of 4-3.

Florida spent the first minutes deep in the Bruins zone, but after a trip to the penalty box, it was not the Cats who scored first.

After a Mason Lohrei pass from the point to the blue paint got blocked, forward Morgan Geekie grabbed the loose puck and converted on a backhand shot past Sergei Bobrovsky at 6:02 of the first period.

The offensive zone time was in the Panthers favor, but penalty trouble came once again, this time it was killed, allowing zero shots on net.

Panthers drew a penalty right after the kill, and had very little going on it, but with a second left, defenseman Uvis Balinskis from the blue line threw the puck on net with traffic, and Evan Rodrigues picked up the rebound and got it past the blocker of Jeremy Swayman.

That was Rodrigues’ first goal since 12/5/24 in Philadelphia, breaking a 16-game drought.

Both teams went to the locker room after 20 minutes, tied at one. Florida held the advantage 14-6 in shots and started the second with a minute left on the power play.

Control at even strength continued for the Panthers in the second as they got eight consecutive shots, which carried over from the previous period.

Despite outshooting the Bruins by almost triple at the time, Boston retook the lead 16:11 into the second.

After failing to convert on the power play where Sam Reinhart broke his stick more than once, Boston got on the board once again.

Boston got the puck to the near corner on the forecheck, touched it back to the half wall, and Geekie then found David Pastrnak on the backdoor crashing the blue paint.

Receiving the pass, the one-touch found the back of the net to make it 2-1 with 3:49 left in the second frame.

Although the Panthers were trailing to start the third period, it did not take long to even the game.

Off the rush, Alesksander Barkov got a return feed on a give-and-go, found Sam Reinhart, and before Boston could get in on the back check, the tap by Reinhart tied the game at two.

Second straight game where Reinhart has scored a goal after going the previous six without one.

Bruins then responded just over a minute later, getting the puck in deep, and off the forecheck. With multiple chances to clear the puck around Bobrovsky, but Oliver Wahlstrom got just above the goal line after a save and scored off the rebound to make it a 3-2 game at 2:06 of the third.

Florida controlled play in the third, and brought in the extra attacker with less than two minutes left.

The Panthers won consecutive draws and the Bruins iced the puck on multiple occasions, and almost ended the game in regulation after shot by at an empty net by Pastrnak hit the post, but ended up as another icing.

Boston iced the puck nine times in the third period.

Panthers called timeout to get their team fresh, and after another face-off win, they got to the net front, where Reinhart was there for a last second shot.

What looked to have been a block, the puck floated over the net, and before a Bruins player could swat it out of the net area, the puck ended up behind Swayman just under three seconds to go in regulation.

This game needed the extra period to decide the outcome.

Bruins drew a penalty with less than two minutes left in the overtime period, and they made the Panthers pay.

Just like the end of regulation, there would be another goal scored before the buzzer sounded. With Florida unable to clear their zone on the penalty kill, Pastrnak attempted a pass to the blue paint that ended up as the game-winner.

Reinhart, attempting to block the pass from the slot, got his stick on it but was redirected into their own net to give Boston the win.

Bruins end their six-game losing streak, defeating the Panthers 4-3 in overtime Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers now go on a quick two-game road trip starting in Philadelphia on Monday night.

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