Reinhart scores twice, Panthers defeat Rangers for 5th straight win

NEW YORK -- Sam Reinhart scored two goals, and the Florida Panthers won their fifth straight game, 4-2 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Aleksander Barkov set up both of Reinhart's goals, and Gustav Forsling also had two assists. Ryan Lomberg scored the game-winning goal in the third period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers (42-16-4), who are 15-2-0 since Jan. 22.

"What we're trying to do this month, and I think we play 11 [games against] playoff teams this month and our schedule is heavy, is figure out different ways to win and talk about the different ways," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "Tonight, we figured out that we need to skate a certain way. Every opponent is different. Everybody will say, 'We've got to play our game,' and we do, but you've got to be able to adjust your game too. We're trying to find different ways to adjust our game."

Will Cuylle and Chris Kreider scored power-play goals, and Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves for the Rangers (40-18-4), who have one win in four games since a 10-game winning streak.

"I think we had some opportunities throughout the game to potentially take a hold of it," Kreider said. "I think that we gave them a little too much time and space at times. Any success we had was from checking them tightly and closing and advancing pucks quickly."

Cuylle gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the last second of a power play at 16:39 of the first period. He scored off a rebound of Jacob Trouba's shot from the right point. 

Reinhart made it 1-1 at 10:11 of the second period with his League-leading 25th power-play goal off a highlight-reel setup by Barkov. 

Carter Verhaeghe played the puck up to Barkov, who tipped it up and juggled it in the air, playing it to himself to get around K'Andre Miller. Falling forward, Barkov, with his stick stretched in front of him, moved the puck left to right past Vincent Trocheck, who tried to block the pass with his skate, to Reinhart for a tap-in from the right post.

"It just happened quick," Barkov said. "The puck was in the air. I just tried to make it flat on my stick. 'Rhino' was there backdoor, and I got the puck to him."

Reinhart said he wasn't surprised to see Barkov make that kind of play.

"I had a pretty good vantage point watching him make that play," he said. "Pretty nice and kind of expected out of him."

Lomberg said Barkov, "Doesn't even understand how sick it was." 

He said he was still shocked at the play after the game.

"He's so nonchalant that that, to him, was just like another assist because that's how he carries himself, but being able to watch that live and see the team's reaction, it was a pretty sweet goal," Lomberg said. "I mean, how many times do you see a guy touch it out of the air over a defender and then one touch, two touch, backdoor tap in. Pretty special play."

Barkov and Reinhart connected again to make it 2-1 at 12:56 with Reinhart scoring on a one-timer from between the circles off a give-and-go with Barkov from the right boards. 

Reinhart has 44 goals, including five in the past three games.

Kreider tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 15:26 off a rebound of Trocheck's shot.

Lomberg made it 3-2 at 6:11 of the third period with a 51-foot wrist shot from the top of the left circle past Shesterkin on the glove side. The puck appeared to graze off of Trouba's skate as it was released.

"I pick the puck up and had a little bit of space to skate it in," Lomberg said. "Threw it in between Trouba's legs there, and obviously, it found the back of the net."

The Panthers didn't let the Rangers generate much after Lomberg's goal until a mini flurry with about three minutes remaining. New York had six shots on goal in the third after getting 22 in the first two periods.

"Once they got the lead, they clogged down the neutral zone a lot and we needed to move the puck quicker," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "I don't think we did a very good job at that once they got the lead. We didn't get in there and sustain pressure." 

Anton Lundell scored an empty-net goal at 19:01 for the 4-2 final.

"When we're playing well, we match up against anybody," Trocheck said. "It's just a matter of us being able to change the way we're doing things whenever something is not working. I think tonight, they did a really good job of staying on top of us, and whenever teams are able to do that, you've got to find a different way to get offensive zone time. We didn't do a great job of that tonight."

NOTES: Reinhart's 44 goals are the third most in a single season by a Panthers' player. Pavel Bure had 59 goals in 2000-01 after scoring 58 in 1999-000. Reinhart became the sixth player in the past 20 years to score 25 power-play goals in a single season. The others are Leon Draisaitl (32 in 2022-23), Kreider (26 in 2021-22), Alex Ovechkin (25 in 2014-15), Teemu Selanne (25 in 2006-07) and Ilya Kovalchuk (27 in 2005-06). Reinhart also recorded his ninth multi-goal game of 2023-24 and tied Olli Jokinen (nine in 2005-06) for the fourth most in a season in Panthers history. … Artemi Panarin picked up his 50th assist, making him the third Rangers player to do so in three straight seasons. Only Mark Messier (1991-94) and Wayne Gretzky (1996-99) have reached that mark.