05/24/25 11:01:00
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05/24 10:59 CDT Panthers rule Sam Reinhart out for Game 3, after he took shot
to knee in Game 2 vs. Hurricanes
Panthers rule Sam Reinhart out for Game 3, after he took shot to knee in Game 2
vs. Hurricanes
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) --- Sam Reinhart will not play for the Florida
Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina on
Saturday night because of a left knee injury, one that happened Thursday night
when he was skated into by the Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho.
The Panthers are listing him as day to day.
It's a significant blow to the Panthers, who lead the series 2-0. Reinhart
scored the winning goal in Game 7 of last season's Stanley Cup Final for the
Panthers, the capper of a 67-goal season including playoffs, and has more goals
--- by far --- than anyone else on the Florida roster since joining the club
four years ago.
"It's a significant player out of our lineup, for sure," Panthers coach Paul
Maurice said. "We have gone through other significant ones ... you have to be
able to survive. You have to have one guy go down and still have a chance ---
or you don't have the depth that you think you have."
Reinhart's 43 goals this season, including playoffs, leads the team. He has 185
goals, again including playoffs, since joining the team --- 36 more than Carter
Verhaeghe, 61 more than Aleksander Barkov, 74 more than Sam Bennett and 76 more
than Matthew Tkachuk.
Reinhart was carrying the puck into the Florida zone with about 5 minutes left
in the first period of Thursday's game when Aho came at him from the side,
making contact with the left knee.
Reinhart tumbled to the ice, clearly had trouble skating to the Florida bench
while favoring the knee and was grimacing in obvious pain. He went to the
Panthers' locker room for further evaluation and the determination was quickly
made that he could not return.
Jesper Boqvist will slot into Reinhart's spot, Maurice said --- the latest
example of Florida needing to use its depth, which the Panthers have touted
many times of late as one of the team's strengths.
"But that doesn't win you games unless you play the right way and use it to
your advantage," Panthers forward Brad Marchand said.
Reinhart has 80 power-play goals since joining the Panthers, more than any two
other Florida players combined in that span. He has 30 game-winning goals, 29
multi-goal games and 10 shorthanded goals during his Florida career --- leading
the franchise in all those categories over the last four years.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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