5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers 5, Ducks 3

Sam Reinhart scored two goals and Spencer Knight made 32 saves as the Florida Panthers closed out their road trip with a 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.
Improving to 7-5-1, the Panthers finished with a split of their four-game trek out West.
"It was a gutsy effort," Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. "That's a tough game coming off a back-to-back. I thought we played a pretty solid game. That was a big win."
For a quick recap of the game, click
HERE
.
To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below

1. SWAGGY STAYS HOT

Carter Verhaeghe has the magic touch right now.
Extending his goal-scoring streak to three games, the lethal sniper opened the scoring for the Panthers on the power play when he got just enough of Brandon Montour's point shot to re-direct the puck past John Gibson and into the twine to make it 1-0 at 11:31 of the first period.

His team-leading eighth goal of the season, Verhaeghe has netted six goals over his last five games, including a pair of multi-goal performances. Typically doing most of his damage at even strength, his goal in Anaheim was just his second tally on the power play since joining Florida.
Since Nov. 1, Verhaeghe's four goals are tied for first in the NHL.

2. MORE FROM MONTY

Montour keeps making things happen.
After assisting on Verhaeghe's opening tally, the surging defenseman put the Panthers up 2-0 when he cashed in on a long point shot just 2:51 after the puck dropped in the second period.
Adding two more points, he then assisted on both of Reinhart's goals in the third period.

Stepping up in the absence of Aaron Ekblad, Montour has notched 11 points (three goals, eight assists) over nine games since No. 1 defenseman was knocked out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. Relied upon heavily in all situations, Montour has averaged more than 27 minutes of ice time per game during that stretch.
"With Aaron going down, Monty's stepped up defensively, too," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "He and Forsling play against the other team's best. I think he's building a patience into his game to find the right time to jump in and the right time to get active. He'll find his points increase doing it that way."
Making history, Montour's four points matched a single-game franchise record for defensemen.

3. REINO ON THE CHARGE

Reinhart celebrated his 27th birthday by playing like a man possessed.
Coming up in the clutch for the second time on the road trip, he scored both his first and second goals of the season to help the Panthers put the game away during the third period in Anaheim.
In San Jose on Thursday, Reinhart scored the game-winning shootout goal in a 4-3 win.

"He's had so many chances to score, and it just didn't seem to go for him," Maurice said. "His game has been right. Sometimes it's going back to something familiar, and he and (Anton) Lundell are back together. They just know how to play off each other. He gets some confidence and a couple goals on his birthday."
Willing his way to a big breakthrough, Reinhart led the Panthers in shots on goals (7) and scoring chances (8), while also firing off the second-most shot attempts (11) against the Ducks. When he was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Panthers out-attempted Anaheim by an absurdly wide margin of 24-9.
"It's huge," said Reinhart, who also drew two penalties. "Like I said, especially at the end going home with a long travel day tomorrow, you want to keep that mood positive and up. It's a nice way to finish it."

4. BENNY ON THE BOARD

Reinhart wasn't the only Sam that saw action in Anaheim.
With play at 4-on-4 in the third period, Bennett scored what would go on to hold up as the game-winning goal when he deposited a centering feed from Eetu Luostarinen to make it 4-2 at 8:10.

"It was massive," Bennett said of the win. "We've been on the road for a while here. It's important to get road wins."
In addition to posting six points (two goals, four assists), Bennett also ranks first among Florida's forwards in hits (29) and tied for first in takeaways (9). Suffering from a bit of bad luck early on this season, more goals are likely on the horizon for Bennett as his shooting percentage of 4.4% is well below his career average of 10.2%.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, he ranks first on the Panthers with 3.9 expected goals at 5-on-5.

5. NEW LOOKS UP FRONT

With Patric Hornqvist nursing an upper-body injury and Matthew Tkachuk serving the first game of his two-game suspension, the Panthers had to shake up their lines a bit against the Ducks.
The result? A lot of new information for Maurice.
Of these new lines, the most-productive combination was Ryan Lomberg, Lunell and Reinhart. Over the 9:33 they spent together at 5-on-5, the Panthers led 17-7 in shot attempts, 9-3 in scoring chances and 1-0 in goals, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Overall, all four lines finished with at least a 50 CF% or better.
"What a great learning experience for our team to find something new," Maurice said. "Luostarinen and Bennett were really good together, so that's some place we could go. Lomberg comes off the fourth line and I really liked his game.
"Now, I think maybe I've learned something about the team I didn't know before. Reinhart and Lundell are a pair that I should work hard to keep together. They're really good together. I have a different set of lines when Matthew comes back then I did a day ago. A good learning experience for us."